Legend of Evangelion
by akitaka
Summary: My first attempt at a crossover story. This is between evangelion and an old game called Legend of Legaia, the story is only loosely based around either. Quite violent and several possible parings. I'm not sure how it's going to turn out yet.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Evangelion, Legend of Legaia or any thing else I make reference to because heaven knows there will be a lot and I don't want to wrote them all down. I should get a lawyer to write this, then the first chapter can all be legal stuff.

_Long ago there existed several groups of creatures that walked the earth. There were animals, demons, humans, and Shinpishugisha. There were two types of demon; ones that fought for themselves and ones that fought for humans. The demons that worked for humans could merge themselves with humans and give them power. These powers ranged from super strength to flying to magic. The humans used these demons to build their cities and fend off the evil demons. Eventually there were very few evil demons left._

_The Shinpishugisha on the other hand were humans who already had powers like demons; however, their powers could only manifest in one form as were the humans could use one demon and its power and than switch as needed. The Shinpishugisha could bring forth energy from the planet and use it for a specific skill. Some could sprout wings and fly, others heal any wound, and still others could command elements. Their power was greater than the humans because it was not dependant on other creatures._

_One day, as if from nowhere, a terrible mist drifted across the land. This mist changed all demons, good or evil into mindless creatures that attacked humans on sight. Humans who already were fused with a demon were completely taken over by them. In a hurry to save themselves the humans did two things; the protected themselves from the mist by walling their cities(or any other method), and killing the Shinpishugisha. The Shinpishugisha were believed to have created the mist and take the world from the humans. Despite the Shinpishugisha having greater power than humans, they were vastly fewer in number. Most were wiped out, only a few escaped with their lives. _

_It has been over a century since the mist came into the world and humans still hide in fear, unable to travel due to the danger. If Shinpishugisha created the mist than only they could stop it. No one has seen one for a hundred years. If there are any left, they are hidden and will not help the humans. _

One morning in a small village one the southern shores a young girl woke up just after dawn and silently stretched herself awake. As she got up she looked around her house. It was relatively small, one room with a fire place at the far side, a table with a few books in one corner, a larger table in the center and a few baskets. Next to her were two futons, one with her younger sister and the other with her father. The girl left her futon on the floor and silently walked out of the house.

Her village was small with only a hand full of houses holding no more than a hundred people. There was a large wall on three sides of the village with a large steel gate in the northern side. On the south side of town there was no wall. There was no need since there was only ocean. The wall extended all the way to the water. Their town was protected from the terrors of the outside.

That morning it was the beach the girl was headed to. Most mornings she went there, but never this early. Today she had a test and was told to arrive as early as possible. Upon arriving the girl walked up behind the man who was sitting on the beach meditating. This man was much older than her. Easily in is fifties this man was extremely muscular and his shaggy hair was pulled back into a ponytail. If he had been standing, he would also have towered over her at a height of six four were she was only five nine. The girl stood behind the man, brought her arms and legs together and bowed. With her head down she said,

"Good morning master."

The man, still sitting replied, "morning Rei." he stood up and turned to look at her. It was only then that Rei raised her head. "I see you are prepared for today. Good. We shall begin with a review of yesterday."

"But master, you said that I had mastered that skill."

"Rei you will do as I instruct and we will review yesterdays lesson." he said firmly.

"Yes sir."

Rei brought her right foot behind her and adopted a fighting posture. Her right hand was clenched and up by her face while her left was down at he waist.

"Good stance, very basic." said the man. Than he adopted his own stance. Also bringing his right foot behind him he brought his right fist to this right hip and put his left hand open in front of him. "Rei, there shall be one difference from yesterday. Today we don't stop until you hit me, no matter how long that takes."

"Understood."

The man charged at Rei with blinding speed and struck at Rei's face with his left hand. Rei blocked with her right and delivered a kick to the man knee. He moved his leg and stopped the blow. He followed with another strike to Rei's face which she again blocked and parried. This continued for a few minutes until Rei jumped back to make room between them.

"Good." said the man. "I can't hit you with suck pathetic attacks."

Rei stood silent and focused.

The man changed his stance and charged in at Rei. This time he jumped toward her and used his knee. Rei ducked underneath him and moved to his back. Rei came in for an attack as the man landed. He instantly threw a kick straight back. Rei avoided it and continued he attack. Again this continued, Rei stayed on the ground while the man used more aerial attacks.

After a while Rei had decided to take the first offensive and attack the man. She ran straight toward him, her hands down. The man had seen her try this before. Rei would charge in and duck the strike attacking his legs. It was a good plan, but one he had seen to many times. When Rei was in close enough to strike the man jumped into the air. Rei did the same without hesitation.

"Good, your ability to alter strategy as improved."

At the top of his jump the man was ten feet in the air, Rei was slightly higher using her jump she flipped forward and sent a kick down at the mans head. It was blocked and they both fell back to the beach. Rei continued to attack in a similar fashion, using large movement of her arms and legs. Striking at his head, body and legs with no rhythm or reason. Exaggerated movements to confuse the opponent was the idea behind this method attack. Unfortunately, with all her flips, spins, kicks and strikes she was unable to hit her master. Even after dodging one attack and falling on to her hands she brought her feet over her head and kicked at him in a hand stand. This still did not work.

About an hour had passed since this match of theirs started and neither had hit the other despite best attempts by each. Rei's face was serious and focused until she noticed the stance her master was in. He was standing square at her leaning on his left foot. His right foot was out in front with only a little bit of his weight on it. His right hand was up and away from his body while his left was in close. His hands were bent in and his fingers slightly curled but not clenched. This was his stance. The old man had mastered offense and defense from this position and was almost completely invulnerable once he had adopted it. Rei had to beat him now or she never would.

Rei stood straight up and stood normally. She put her right foot only slight of line with her left and brought her hands up in front of her. She left them open and relaxed. The expression on her face had changed from a serious one to one of complete calm. They both stood completely still for about three minutes and then the man charged at Rei. His speed was amazing. No Human should have been able to move that fast but he did. To cover the four feet between them and attack took no more than half a second. Rei lightly stepped to the side and from that lose posture she sprang her hand out toward her master and struck him in the rips with her palm. The mans leg gave way and he fell into the sand.

"Good work." he said. "You hit me. You have mastered the art of fighting with your hands." He stood back up and bowed at Rei who did the same. "Now that that's finished lets have some tea."

"Yes master."

While a small fire was started and water was heated Rei looked around at the rest of the village as they worked. Everyone had brought their bedding out to dry and was starting with various other chores. Some cut wood from trees that had been chopped down yesterday. Others gathered eggs from the few chickens that they had. The fisherman had already left and just went around the pair as they fought. The entire town worked together in small groups, men doing their chores and women did theirs. Rei looked at the women who wore badly beaten kimonos. The men wore kimonos and hakama pants. All the clothes of the village were torn and sowed together with patches all over them. Most people had one thing to wear and would just fix it until it could no longer be fixed.

Rei on the other hand wore a brown shirt with sleeves that ended at her elbows. Her pants were also brown and stopped at the ankles. She had split toe socks and sandals that wrapped around her foot. Her clothes were plain, training clothes supplied by her master. His were the same.

There were two people in the village that did not help with daily chores, they were the village elder because he was busy trying to find the best way for the village to survive and attempting to ration the supplies so everyone, including himself, had exactly the same amount as everyone else. The other was Rei. Rei did not join with the other groups because of her appearance. Her skin was pale white, her eyes crimson and her hair blue. The rest of the village had black hair, brown eyes and normal skin tones. Rei was different and the other villagers were scared of her. To alleviate this she was taught a variety of skills. Of course she could read, write and speak, but she also knew all the woman's skills. She could cook, sew, clean, tend animals, and knew some medicine. She had also learned men's skills of fishing, hunting, trapping, and of course fighting. She could learn all these skills because she had an amazing ability to retain information. After being shown something only once she could repeat it perfectly.

While Rei and her master enjoyed their tea her father walked over toward them. He was a normal man in green clothes and a cane in his right hand. He had injured his leg many years ago and had trouble walking since.

"Master Kenji, is my daughter doing well today?"

"Yes. She has succeeded in mastering hand to hand combat. We will begin her final test shortly."

"Thank you. When you agreed to train her all those year ago I was very relieved. She needed something challenging to occupy her time since she could learn everything else so quickly."

"Yes. And since she is not accepted by the rest of the village she did have to take up someone's craft."

"Rei. When you finish today come back to the house. I have something to give you."

"Yes father."

Rei and Kenji finished their tea and stood up. He walked over to a box at the top of the beach and opened it. He took out two swords. He belted his and threw his at Rei. It flew straight at her and she side stepped and caught it with her left hand just before the guard..

"Rei. This will be your final test. In the ten years I have trained you, you have grown into a fine woman. Never before has someone been given the title of master at sixteen. A woman has never held it. You will be the first and strongest. Are you ready?"

"Yes." she said and then took a stance. She put her left foot behind her and held the sword at her hip. She then gently placed her right hand on the handle.

Kenji smirked and drew his blade from its sheath and held it in his right hand down at his side. They both stood ready for several minutes. Rei initiated the fight. She charged at Kenji in the motion to unsheathe her sword at him. When she was I range she jumped into the air and swung down at him. He easily blocked it but then noticed that Rei had not taken her sword out of the scabbard. Her right hand was on the handle and her left on the sheath just above the guard. While still in the air she pulled the sword from the sheath and thrust it at Kenji. He spun away avoiding the blow. Rei landed and belted the sheath.

"That was impressive. I've never seen that attack before."

"I figured that it might work." she said calmly. "It was my best shot for a quick match."

"That attack would work on most others. Improve its speed and only masters such as myself will be able to avoid it."

"Understood."

Again she ran at Kenji this time using the same speed he had in their final exchange of hand to hand combat. Speed that no human should have. Kenji blocked with matching quickness. The entire battle continued at this speed. Even when Kenji jumped and attacked with a downward swing the speed was amazing. To any other person in the village, they were moving by magic.

It had reached noon and the battle continued between them. Rei was calm and relaxed like when she won her last fight. She stood in a basic stance with her weight even on both feet and held her blade out straight in font of her. Kenji held his pointing down toward the ground. They held their ground for only a moment and then attacked. They were faster this time than before. To anyone watching they disappeared. When they attack they were facing the other way both going past their targets and using a spin to build force. When their blades hit there was a massive shock that caused wind to blow and the sand beneath them to shift away. Several of their attacks did this.

The rest of the village had stopped for a noon meal while Rei and Kenji kept fighting. It was here that everyone witnessed Rei's victory over this great master. The man that, as if an act of the gods, walked through the mist from the far east and into their town without a scratch on him. He who could kill the demons with his blade and bare hands. Kenji sheathed his sword and flew at Rei pulling it out with blinding speed and force. Rei holding the sword in both hands thrust at Kenji. When their swords met Rei's went across Kenji's as it swung. The force of her thrust and speed of her thrust and the equal power of his swing caused enough wind to shake the boats at the dock some ten meters away. Rei's thrust cut Kenji's sword and ended at his throat. Kenji's swing went right past doing nothing, half of his sword in a tree above the beach.

"You have bested me. You now have the title master."

The town stood in aw at this sight. This girl, a teenager had beaten a man who seemed unbeatable by all creatures of god.

Rei stood back up and put her sword in its sheath. She handed it to Kenji and said, "Thank you master, but I have not. I beat your sword, not you. Please let me find you another."

"Is my apprentice really this stupid?" he said. "A sword is an extension of a fighters body and soul. You broke mind. You beat me on all levels. If you had continued I would have died, you are the victor."

There was a small cracking sound from inside Rei's Sheath. She pulled out the sword only to see that it had shattered.

"I guess it was a draw. My sword is broken too."

"No, your sword broke because it has done all it can for you. A human sword such as this was never meant to handle the kind of strain that we put on it. It only broke because you have succeeded."

"Thank you master."

"Now go. Stop being so sentimental and get something to eat. After this long you must be starving."

"Right." she said cheerfully and ran off to her home.

When Rei arrived her father and sister were both working. Her sister was finishing fixing some clothes and her father was at his table with a book. What ever he was studying was important because the village never complained about him doing it.

"I'm back." she said.

"Onee-chan welcome home."

"Hey Saori."

"I trust you have completed your training than." said her father firmly.

"Yes father Master Kenji has bestowed the title of Master upon me. I have bested him in both types of fighting."

"Than you have earned this." he pulled on a floor board and it came out of the floor. From the space he pulled out something wrapped in a cloth. He replaced the floor board and turned toward Rei motioning her to come and sit. Saori watched in silence. "Rei this gift does not come lightly. This is proof of your achievement today as well as a guarded secret that you must carry. Are you prepared?"

"Yes father."

"Good." he unwrapped the cloth and reveled a sword of great beauty.

There was nothing special about the exterior. The handle was basic, wrapped in black cloth, the guard gold with no design, and the sheath black ray skin. It was the most unnoticeable sword put everything about it was perfect, without flaw. He drew the sword from it sheath and it gleamed as if the sun had shined right off it. The blade had a perfect curve and the edge had no faults. This blade had either never been used in combat or was expertly forged. He returned to sword to its sheath and handed it to Rei who accepted it with a bow. She drew it herself and felt the weight of the sword. Its balance was perfect it felt as thought the sword was a perfect extension of her arm and it fit perfectly in her hand.

"This sword is amazing father." Rei said in aw.

"This sword is of mystic origin. It is said to have been crafted by a Shinpishugisha a thousand years ago and was the first of its kind. All other swords were modeled off of its design and none can compare to it. It will never break and can cut anything. You must keep it safe and secret from the rest of the village. Items of the Shinpishugisha are forbidden."

"Than why do we have one?"

"A year before the mist covered the world it was given to my ancestor to protect. This Shinpishugisha had the power to see the future. He knew that a genocide of their kind was going to occur and that all of their artifacts would be destroyed. He wanted this one protected by our family. I am not sure why."

"So we must keep it hidden to save it from the village. But father are the Shinpishugisha not the reason for the mist and why we are stuck behind this wall, hiding like mice?"

"I do not believe so Rei. Someone else created the mist and blamed the Shinpishugisha. Eventually we will find out why and how and stop this hell."

"I understand father." Rei said and bowed.

Later that night when everyone was asleep there was a loud crash from outside the wall. Noises from outside were common at night because the wind stopped. There was always a gentle breeze during the day that kept the mist from thickening too much, but at night the mist and the demons could do all they wanted. That is why there was the wall and why nothing was outside, no one wanted to go out if there was a problem. Besides the usual noises from outside there was a loud hit on the gate. The metallic sound echoed through the town and woke everyone up.

Rei looked around when she was awoken and turned to her father.

"This does not sound good." he said. "I'll go check it out, you stay here with your sister."

"But father…"

"Just do it."

"Yes." she said as her father left the house. "Idiot. You only have one good leg. If something goes wrong than you can't do anything."

"Onee-chan is something happening?" Saori asked sleepily.

"Probably, but I'm not sure. I'm going to go out and look. Keep the door locked ok."

"Ok."

Rei walked to the other side of the room and grabbed the sword from its hiding spot. "Why do I think I will need this?" Rei asked and left the house.

When Rei got outside she saw many village men standing at the gate including Kenji and the elder. As she walked over there was another strike on the gate.

"What ever is hitting that is very large, wouldn't you say Rei?" asked Kenji.

"Ahh, y-yes I would."

"Rei why are you here? I told you to stay with your sister."

"You can't help or run if something goes wrong because of your leg so I came to take your place. The one who should stay in the house is you. With your daughter."

"Why did you bring a sword?" asked Kenji.

"I don't know actually. I just thought I might need it."

"You wont need a blade child," said the village elder, "This gate and wall have held for one hundred years without fail and they will continue to do so."

"It's their age I'm worried about." Rei replied.

Just then a creature appeared in front of them laughing. It came through the gate like a ghost and than materialized itself there. It was wearing a black cloak with a hood, no one could see its face.

"YOU REALLY THINK THIS WALL WILL SAVE YOU?" the creature said in an evil voice. "THIS WALL WILL DO NOTHING MORE THAN BURRIE YOU WHEN WE TAKE IT DOWN. THE TIME OF HUMANS HAS ENDED AND THE TIME OF DEMONS HAS COME. NOW PATHETIC HUMANS, SURRENDED YOURSELVES TO THE MIST AND TO THESE DEMONS AND BE SPARED YOUR LIVES."

"Who are you?" asked the village elder.

"MY NAME IS OF NO CONCERN TO THE DEAD. ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE ASSIMILATED WITH THE DEMONS WILL IT HAVE ANY MEANING. IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO COOPERATE THAN I AM SIMPLY A SHINIGAMI."

"Shinigami?" gasped the villagers.

"NOW WRECHED HUMANS, YOUR WALL COMES DOWN." he said as he faded back out of the town.

"What did he mean by that?" asked a villager.

"Everyone get back to your homes!" yelled the elder. But as he yelled a large demon appeared just outside the wall. It toward over the wall and looked almost human. The demon bent over on all fours and opened its mouth toward the wall. Out of the mouth shot a blue blast of energy which went effortlessly through the wall and out to sea wrecking a few houses that were in the way.

As the blast subsided demons poured into the town. Everyone ran to try and escape into there homes and while some did others were killed before the could get away. While everyone else was running Rei and Kenji stood ready to fight.

"Spread out!" yelled Kenji to Rei. "You takes the ones on the west, save as many people as you can!"

"Yes sir!" and Rei ran to fight the demons.

Without thinking she drew her sword and attacked the demons. She was able to cut them with ease despite their bodies being hard like crystal. She ran through the town cutting down any demon that was in her way. Despite the best attempt of Rei and Kenji to stop the demon threat it was no use. More and more kept coming into town through the broken wall. After three hours of fighting Rei and Kenji met back up in the town square.

"How many have you killed?" asked Kenji.

"I wasn't counting." Rei replied.

"Too bad I was trying to see if I could still best you."

"They wont stop and we can't fight till morning. What are we going to do?"

"Nothing, your going to do something Rei."

"Huh, what? What are you talking about? I've been doing something for hours, so unless you have a new trick to teach me I don't know what to do."

"I have no new tricks, but you do."

"What are you talking about?"

"You never wondered about your hair or eyes, why they were that color?"

"No I scared everyone away from me why would I want to think about it?"

"Rei you are a Shinpishugisha." Kenji said calmly.

"What!?" exclaimed Rei. "How can I be? No one else in my family is one."

"Your mother was. She kept it hidden very well. Her power was actually sensory manipulation. To everyone else she looked normal, but in reality she looked very much like you."

"And you know this how?"

"You think a master such as myself could be fooled by such tricks. I was able to see through it. When your father came and explained to me your situation I knew that you had inherited your mothers powers. That is why I agreed to train you."

"But what can I do? I don't have any powers."

"You do, but you must find them. Shinpishugisha acquire their power by communing with the energy of the earth and channeling it through themselves. You already know how to do this because of your blood and my training will make it easier. Rei go to a safe place and awaken your power, save us all."

"Alright." Rei said with a nod and ran to find a safe spot.

Rei ran to an alley between two buildings and stopped running. "Can I really do this?" she asked herself. "How am I supposed to channel the power of the planet? And not all of the Shinpishugisha had powers for battle. What if I can just fly or heal people? What then?" Rei shook her head. "Enough, I have to try." Rei sat down and meditated on the planet and its energy.

After what seemed like forever Rei had still not discovered anything. She could find no power and could hear her town being destroyed while she did nothing. Just then a demon came down the alleyway. It was a small one, it had a round head with a beak like mouth on it. Its body was long and thing and at the bottom were two triangular blades pointing straight off. It had no arms and no face, just the two blades a the bottom. It floated at Rei.

The demon attacked and as it was about to hit Rei and energy surged from within her. Rei's hair and clothes rustled and a blue light came from seemingly nowhere. The demon was engulfed in the light and disappeared. When the light faded only an image of the demon was left, like a ghost. The ghost gently flew at Rei and merged with her.

Alarmed Rei looked at her self wondering what was going on. Than she heard a voice from inside her head.

_Excellent my child you have awaken you powers. Do not be alarmed by this or by what you hear. You are Shinpishugisha and you have inherited their greatest power. The power to control the demons themselves. When a demon who was meant to help humans is killed by you its spirit my stay on this plane of existence to serve you. If it does except it and you will gain its power and be able to summon it at will. This is your power. This is the power given to you by your mother. The power that can rid the world of this horrible mist._

"What the hell was that? Who was just talking to me?" But no one answered. Rei looked around and saw no one. She decided to believe the voice and use her power.

Rei ran out to the town square and saw that her master was surrounded by demons. In an instant she was by his side, sword in hand, fighting the demons. After the majority of them had been killed Kenji asked, "Did you acquire your power?"

"Yes."

"Than what are you doing? Use it!"

"Right, but, I don't know how."

"You should be able to feel your power and summon it on command."

Rei closed her eyes and focused. When she opened them the demon that she saw as a ghost formed in front of her and sat there. When more demons came she thought that it should attack and it did. It charged at the demons and killed them. When more came the blades on its body glowed red with heat and the demon threw fire at its enemies. Rei stood in aw at her own power.

Fighting continued for several more hours. Rei and Kenji were both becoming exhausted. Even with Rei's new power, they would not last until morning.

"I'm not sure what we're going to do master. I don't think we can keep going."

"Probably not. This may be our end. At least we go down fighting."

"I guess so."

Just then Rei slashed a demon to her left by holding the sword in her left hand. The moment she cut it another demon attacked her from the front. She motioned to strike it with her right palm and just before she made contact her red eyes glowed. There was a flash of light.

Rei stood in a endless blackness with only enough light to see three feet in front of her. She looked around confused. She was just fighting. Did she die? Was it that bad that she could not remember? Where was kanji and everyone else? Then in front of her appeared a demon like the one she commanded. It spoke.

"_Kill. Kill. Kill."_

"It only wants to kill? That can't be true. They were meant to help humans."

"_Kill. Kill. Kill."_

"You don't want to kill us." she said to it in a gentle voice.

"_Kill. Kill. Kil."_

"You want to help us, not kill us."

"_Kill. Kill."_

"It is the mist that makes you this way. Please remember what you purpose is."

"_Kill. K"_

"Please."

" "

"Do you remember your purpose?" Rei asked with a gentle voice.

"_I must assist humans as the most physically weak creatures on this earth."_

"Right. What makes you want to kill us?"

"_Mist. The mist is poison. A toxin that clouds are thoughts and purpose."_

"Than please, can you resist the mist? Can you help me stop it?"

"_Yes."_

The flash of light faded as quickly as lightning and Rei's hand was on the demon. Rei nodded and the demon floated into the center of town. Other demons followed until they were all present there. Kenji moved to attack them but Rei stopped him. The demons paused and after a moment started to glow. Instead of the evil energy that had been coming from them there was now a gentle warmth. This warmth filled the village and the mist dissipated. The demons melded together and their energy radiated outward lighting up the whole village. The mist and all the demons were gone.

"What was that?" asked Kenji, stunned from the sight.

"I cleared the mind of the demon, made it remember its purpose. And then, I think it sacrificed its self to destroy the mist."

"You can do that?"

"I guess so."

"Rei," Kenji said putting his hand on her shoulder, "you are a demons whisperer. You can command them through their very soul. I think you are the one who can free us from the mist."

"Yes master. Thank you."

"Now, go back home. Tell our father and sister that everything is ok."

"Understood." she said and walked back to he house.

Rei didn't sleep that night. Many of the other villagers did not either. How could they after an attack on their town that had been safe for so long. Just after dawn the village elder called a meeting of the entire town to discuss what had happened.

"Everyone." the elder called. "We have survived last nights attack, but I do not think we will survive another. We need to discuss what to so, where we should go."

"You don't need to go anywhere." Kenji said. "The mist is gone from our town for good. Isn't that right Rei?"

"Yes it is."

"What do you mean by this?" asked the elder.

"Rei." said Kenji hinting for her to explain.

"The demons sacrificed themselves to stop the mist. Our village and a small part of the surrounding area will never have mist or evil demons in it again. Any demon that enters this space will fulfill its original purpose, help humans."

"And how do you know this?"

"Well, because I was there. And, I spoke with the demons, they told me."

"What?!" exclaimed the elder. The rest of the village was gasping and whispering amongst themselves.

"I," Rei said loud enough to be heard over everyone, "I know you don't want to hear this, but, I am Shinpishugisha. Apparently I can talk to and command the demons. I asked them to help us last night."

The village people started to talk again and the elder raised his hand to silence them. In a very serious voice he said, "Rei, if it is true, if you are Shinpishugisha, than you must leave our village immediately."

"What!? But I helped you! I saved this village!"

"That may be true, but the Shinpishugisha are the ones that caused the mist. While it may not have been you, we cannot allow you to stay here as one of them. The same goes for your family."

"NO!" she exclaimed. "My father and sister are not Shinpishugisha. They are normal humans."

"You mean to tell me you were sired by human parents."

"No, my mother was like me, I have her blood. My sister does not, she is human. My father too."

"Very well." said the elder. "We mean no disrespect Rei. As the savior of this town you will always have are gratitude, but you understand our situation. One as dangerous as you cannot live here."

"Yes sir. I'll leave as soon as I have readied my things. Goodbye." Rei turned and stormed away.

Back at her house Rei grabbed a bag and filled it with the few things she had; a blanket and a necklace from her mother. She tied a rope around the sword and slung it over her shoulder. She turned to walk out of the house when her father and sister came through the door.

"Onee-chan." her sister said in tears as she hugged her. "Don't leave please."

"I have to Saori. The village does not want me. I frighten them to the point were they must banish me."

"But, but, you saved us."

"I know, I know. That doesn't change anything. I am Shinpishugisha, I have to leave." She put her hand on her sisters face and looked into her eyes. "I'm going to do the same thing I did here everywhere else. I will free this world of the mist. Then you can go and see the world and live a better life."

"Ok." Saori said sniffling." "But you'll come back home right?"

"I'll make sure to come back and see you, but this is no longer my home."

"Rei." said her father.

She looked up at him. "Thank you father for all you have done for me. I only wish I could have been a normal human. Been a good daughter to you. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. While I had no idea about you and your mother I still love you. You have given me everything I could have wanted in a child. I know you will do well on your journey."

"Thank you father."

"Find out the truth about the mist and stop it. Then you can clear your people's name. Saori!" he called.

"Yes?" she replied still in tears.

"Get you sister some food. Three days worth. We can't let her leave without that."

"Yes." she said and went to grab some food. "Here you go." she said when she returned a moment later."

"Thank you. Goodbye." Rei said and walked out the door.

Instead of leaving right then Rei walked out to the beach to see Kenji. He was standing on the beach looking out at the ocean.

"Master, I'm leaving now. Thank you for teaching me all that you have. I trust that you had not planned on their reaction or you would not have told me to speak."

"I knew exactly how they would respond. It didn't change the fact that you saved us. If they had thought we just weathered the storm they would have been worried about the next one. They would have been scared about what to do and maybe had done something stupid in response. Despite their reaction to you, at least now they know they are safe. That was my plan."

"Very wise master as always. I'll take my leave now, goodbye."

"Rei." Kenji called. "Take this with you. Read it later." he handed her a scroll.

"What is it?"

"If I wanted to tell you I wouldn't have wrapped it up and said read it later. You'll see."

"Right." she said with a chuckle and turned to walk out of town.

Rei left without looking back and went North until noon time. She found a tree and sat underneath it and looked at the sky through the leaves. She had no idea where she was going or what she should do. She ate a small meal that her sister had gathered for her and continued on her way.

Only a few demons attacked her while she walked. The ocean breeze kept most of the mist away and there were only the originally evil demons out. After each fight she worried more and more about what she would do that night. Night, when things were at their worst. How had Kenji made it around without injury? He couldn't have been lucky, or fought his whole trip. She had no idea.

As it grew darker and the daily winds started to lighten Rei noticed a cave in a small hill just ahead of her. She ran to the cave and studied it to see if it was being used by any other creatures. It was empty and Rei used it as shelter.

"At least on my first night a have a roof over my head." she said sarcastically. She found just enough wood in the cave to start a fire and sat by its light and ate a little more food. "This isn't going to work. I can't just walked around blindly." Then she remembered the scroll from Kenji. Surly it had some good information on it. She opened it and saw that he had written something on it.

Rei, you are my greatest student. The fact that I found you and knew of your powers was no accident. Far to the east there is a temple of warriors. They train in similar arts as I and have other skills much greater. Fifteen years ago I was there training and I was called by the Abbot. He had had a vision of a small village to the south would be in danger and that a Shinpishugisha girl would save it. In this vision he learned that this Shinpishugisha would save this world from the evil mist. Without telling anyone about this I left that place and searched for the village. I eventually came upon your home. They welcomed me in and there I saw you mother holding a small child. That child was you. It was then that I realized that you and your mother were Shinpishugisha. When I confronted her about it your mother was very scared that I would make her secret known. When I explained the prophecy that I had been given she said that she would have me train you to fulfill it. It was very unfortunate when your mother died. On that day when your father brought you to me and asked me to train you I knew that your mother was still there, guiding you to your destiny. Rei you were born to complete this task. In this scroll I have included a map that will tell you of all the major towns and castles of our country. Please, use it and free as many places as you can. Someone in these towns must know where the mist originates from. Find it and stop it. That is my last command to you as you master.

Rei put down the letter and cried. He had known since she was born that this would happen. She was sad that her mother was gone and had lived her whole life in hiding. She was mad that she was never told of this and that she had no home. Eventually the tears overtook her and she fell asleep.

During the night dreams came to Rei. First she dreamt of the stories she used to hear as a child. Stories of when there was no mist. Of when people could trade and travel the world. She dreamt of the things described to her from that time. The food people ate, the clothes they wore. She could see the beautiful kimonos with elegant designs. Clothes without tares and patches, something that had long been forgotten.

Next she dreamt of her earlier years with her master Kenji. In her dream she remembered one day that they were training on the beach. Rei was only six and was fighting with all her might against this master. Many times she tripped in the sand and fell over. One time she tripped and started to cry.

"STOP CRYING!" barked Kenji.

"Sorry master." Rei said tears still in her eyes. "Why are we fighting on the beach anyway? It's hard to move and I always fall."

"DON'T WHINE. YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO FIGHT WITHOUT YOUR FOOTING SO YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE IT." Kenji said sternly.

"But it's too hard. I can't fight like this. Can we at least take a break?"

"PATHETIC!" Kenji yelled. "HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHY YOU ARE HERE? YOU'RE HERE BECAUSE YOUR FATHER WANTED TO GIVE YOU A CHALLENGE AN TO GET STRONGGER. BREAKS ARE NOT CHALLENGING AND WILL NOT MAKE YOU STRONG. NOW, GET BACK UP AND ATTACK ONCE MORE."

"Yes sir." Rei said barley audible.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"YES SIR!"

Rei awoke from her dream and it was morning. The fire had long since burnt out and she had somehow gone the night without incident. She sat and ate some more food and thought about her dreams from the night before. She realized that Kenji and her father had done the best for her. She had been adequately prepared for her journey and could complete it. She knew that she had to rid the world of the mist and restore the world to the peaceful state it had once been in. That way she might be able to have one of those beautiful kimonos.


	2. Chapter 2

Rei decided that in order to continue her journey she needed a destination, or at least a basic idea of which way to walk. She opened the scroll that Kenji gave her and found the map. It was not incredibly detailed, but it would serve her just fine. It showed several villages and towns as well as the castles that were scattered around the country. The closest thing to her was a castle to the north. There was no information about the castle just a family name. Fuyutsuki. This would be her next stop.

"Alright. It looks like it will take me two more days to get there. I'll be out of food by then. Hope they have some." Rei stood up and walked out of the cave and it the general direction of the castle.

Rei walked for the rest of the day pausing only for a short while to eat a noon meal and drink water from a stream. When night fell Rei could find no shelter. She went and sat under a tree and ate a little more food.

"Well I sure am out of luck. I should keep ready just incase more demons show up." Rei held her sword by her side for that reason.

Just as she was about to fall asleep she noticed movement around her. After focusing on the noise she could tell that it was not human. Demons were attacking her. She stood up and readied herself for the attack. From behind her and to the left something jumped at her.

"Crap." she said and put up her sword, still in sheath, to block.

This demon was very similar to a wolf except it was stronger and had bigger fangs. Rei pulled her sword out from it sheath and stabbed the wolf demon while holding it back. The demon cried in pain as it fell to the ground.

"Kenji was right, that idea would work on others." Rei said happily and then looked around. She realized that even though they were demons wolves normally moved in packs. There should be more coming.

"Where are you." Rei said looking around. "I know your out there so come out."

A few moments after a large group of wolf demons came out of the shadows. There were at least a dozen of them and they attacked Rei all at once. Rei began to fight back, but the wolves attacks were well coordinated. It was difficult to fend them off.

"Fine then. You want me, come get me." Rei said and turned and started running.

When she ran the wolves chased her. She continued to run and they continued to chase until one wolf had pulled away from the group and was getting closer to Rei. She turned around and quickly killed that wolf. After the killing stroke she turned back around and continued to run. Rei continued this tactic until most of the wolves were dead.

When there were only two wolves left Rei stopped to take them both on at once. She parried an attack from one only to have the other attack from directly behind it. Rei avoided the attack, but the wolf hit her pack and shredded it.

"Shit. That was all I had."

Rei's blanket and food lay stroon across the ground in various pieces. She leaped in and cut the wolf down the back and landed to face the last. It crouched and growled. Rei took her stance and held her sword level with the ground. The wolf leaped at Rei and she moved in and preformed a thrust. The thrust cut through the wolfs neck and the blood sprayed everywhere. Rei turned to look at her supplies that had been attacked.

"Come on. They are completely ruined." She said as they were torn and some of the demons blood had gotten on them. "I'm glad I decided to wear my mothers' necklace. It's still ok." Rei walked away from the bloody scene. She could sleep now, she would have to find another spot, or go without that night.

Rei walked the rest of the night and well into the morning. Despite not having any food or any rest she kept heading toward the castle using the skills her father taught her to find and keep direction.

"I'd really like some food." she said to herself out loud. "Good thing Kenji taught me how to go without for a few days. As long as I reach the castle tomorrow I should be fine."

Late in the afternoon Rei was still walking. She had yet to take a break an was becoming slightly weary. Pausing for a moment she noticed a small part in the tall grass.

"Animal tracks, cool. Maybe something I can eat."

Rei followed the tracks carefully and quietly observing every change trying to discover what kind of animal she was tracking.

"I always wondered when I would use this. I just thought my father taught me this because he could or he wanted a son." she said jokingly.

Rei came across the animal as it approached dusk. She could tell it was laying down to sleep when she approached. From a distance, perfectly hidden she looked and saw the prey she had been tracking.

"That works I can eat that."

It was a deer. Not a particularly large one, but a deer none the less. Rei looked at the deer deciding how best to kill it and take its meat. It would have been easier if she had a bow or knife then she could shoot it and skin it. With only a sword it would be more challenging. Soon after Rei started to move she paused, her sword half drawn.

"I can't kill it." she said. "There's too much. I'd have no way to store or transport it. Most of him would go to waist. I'll just go without." Rei then stood up and walked away. While she retreated the deer noticed her and sprang off to safety.

Night came and Rei sat by a large rock in a field. She leaned back against it for something to sleep against and rested her sword across her lap. She was exhausted and hungry. The almost capture of food had made her body crave it and now that she had none it was quite upset.

"I know I know." she said as her stomach growled loudly. "There's nothing I can do. That damn demon destroyed all my food."

With her body wanting to rest and her eyes closing on their own Rei summoned the fire demon from her village. It appeared in front of her and stood ready.

"You'll be there if I'm asleep right? Stand watch for me."

The demon made a strange sound as if saying ok and Rei went to sleep. Rei's only dream that night was about having a bed to sleep in when she arrived at the castle. Surly they would take in their first visitor in ages and give them some food and lodge. She would make it a point to free the castle from the mist in exchange for their hospitality.

The next morning the demon was still standing in front of her. Apparently it had done its watch well and she was not attacked.

"Good job." she said and let the demon rest. "I don't know if you get tired, but there's no sense in keeping you out her."

Shortly before midday Rei arrived at the castle. As she came to the gate she was puzzled to find that there were no guards around the wall.

"Hello!" she called loudly at the gate. "Hello! Anyone there?"

No answer.

"Well I still need to get in." She said and took a few steps back from the gate.

Rei ran at the wall and placed her foot on it. She ran half way up the wall, which was about fifteen feet, and jumper to grab and archer hole another ten above that. As quickly as she ran up, she swung herself through the hole and onto the plank behind it. There she saw that there were two levels for archers, the one she was on and one above it to shoot over the top of the wall.

"Wow, they are really prepared for battles here."

She looked out and saw a large open field between her and the castle that was clearly used as training grounds for soldiers.

"Is that all this castle is, a military stronghold?"

She jumped down from the ledge and walked toward the castle. Fuyutsuki castle was much less majestic than she had imagined. Only three stories high with no decoration, it was only a castle for war. She walked up to the front door and knocked.

"Excuse me, is anyone there? I'm a traveler from the south and I need food and shelter. Please open the door!"

After a few minutes of waiting no one answered and Rei was getting annoyed.

"Why wont the open. It's not as if I'm a demon trying to trick them, they can't speak! Forget it."

Rei jumped into the air and spun around performing a back kick to the door. The door shook but stayed shut.

"Damn, a metal bar is bracing the door huh? They really don't want anyone in here."

Rei drew her sword and placed it in the gap between the two door with the blade up. Holding the handle with her left hand and placing her right on the back of the blade she readied her swing. Rei focused her strength and with a yell swung the sword up and jumped at the same time. She cut right through the steel on the other side. Putting her sword back she hit the door and it opened. Inside she saw something horrible. Demons.

"Shit! The castle is full of them."

The demons attacked Rei as she spoke. She evaded the first attack and countered with a spinning kick. The kick cracked the skull of the demon which looked like a troll. The next attacked with its hand straight in and Rei block it with an open hand and followed by a few quick palms to its body. Several bones broke and it fell down dead. She moved in and struck the next first to the neck stopping its breathing. The last demon was a little harder. Rei had to block two strikes before she could attack. She hit the demon on the leg and then jumped into the bringing her elbow to the crown of its head as she came down. The demons were all dead at the entrance.

"Man what a pain. At least thee aren't anymore right here."

Rei looked around the main hall of the castle and saw a large painting on the wall. It must have been of the castle head, Fuyutsuki. He was an older man with grey hair. He wore armor of great quality with a crest of two crossed swords on it.

"Yeah, he really likes combat." she said.

Below there was another smaller painting. This one was of a woman with yellow hair. She had a small mole below her left eye and a large white haori jacket.

"Is this his wife? It sure isn't his daughter, there is no family similarity."

Rei left the picture and walked around the castle. She had two missions; find the residence of this castle and find any food they had. She found the kitchen and store room first. She looked around the rooms and found nothing at first. The pans, bowls and all other utensils were coated in dust as if they hadn't been used in years.

"This is no good."

Rei walked into the store room and saw a equally bad sight. There was no food. It had all decayed or had been eaten by various beasts and demons.

"Damn. How long have things been like this?"

Rei left the kitchen and was faced with more demons. These were larger and had crystal like bodies like the one she had absorbed in her village. It stood on four legs almost as tall as her. It had a large head with a shield like structure coming off of it. From the forehead came two protrusions each with two triangular blades on the like on the bottom of the first one.

"This doesn't look good." Rei said calmly.

The demon charged her and she ran at it. Rei jumped at the demon and placed her foot on its head. She then jumped over the demon and the force from her jump pushed its head to the ground. She kept on running away after that.

"Wow that actually worked. Cool."

She ran and eventually found a very sturdy looking door on the second floor. When she opened it Rei realized that it was a barracks for soldiers. She closed the door and stayed inside.

"Alright I can rest here." she said.

She looked around and found a small box. The box contained folded clothes. They must have been put there for a soldier and never taken. Taking the clothes out of the box she found that there was a blue kimono and black hakama. There were also shin and forearm guards made of leather.

"Good. These old training clothes wont do me much good. Plus they're all torn up."

Rei stood up and removed her outer clothes. She left only her under garments. Her slender body stood cold as she placed her old clothes on the floor. She had long and thin arms and legs that were well toned with muscle from her years of training. Her stomach was flat and taught and her butt was small and shapely. Her breasts, though wrapped in a cloth, were perfectly shaped and soft yet firm. She put on the kimono and then the hakama. She secured the clothes and place her sword in her belt. She put on the forearm protectors and the shin guards over the hakama to limit the amount of cloth that would get in the way.

Rei looked at herself as best she could. "Nice. I like these. I'd still rather have a beautiful kimono, but you can't fight in that. Hopefully I wont be mistaken as a man." She said and chuckled.

She took her sword out of her belt and rested on one of the beds.

"I'll sleep for a few hours and then keep moving." she said. "I have to find out what happened to the people here."

Rei awoke several hours later and was well rested. She got out of bed and belted her sword. On the other side of the room she noticed a haori jacket hanging on the wall. It was the same blue as her kimono so she took it off its hanger and put it on.

"It has been getting colder. I guess I'll take this out of necessity." she reasoned.

Leaving the room Rei decided to climb to the third level. There, there were only two room; an empty bedroom and a side room. She went into the side room only to find that it was another bedroom.

"This must belong to the king and an attendant or something."

Rei stopped and looked at the far wall of the room.

"This castle looked a lot bigger from the outside." she said. "There should be at least another ten feet of space here."

Rei walked to the other side of the room and started to knock on the wall. The sound told her it was hollow. She hit the wall and knocked down part of it reveling a hidden room.

"I was right." she said triumphantly.

Walking in Rei saw several book shelves full of books, a table with a few bottles on the and a lone book next to them. She wet over and looked at the book on the table. It was journal of someone named Akagi. She opened it to read.

ENTRY 1: As the main doctor of this castle I have been charged by king Fuyutsuki to investigate the mist and its effect on the demons. He wishes for me to understand how it effects them and how it can be reversed. It is a positive endeavor. Maybe we can free the demons from its control and take back the world.

ENTRY 2: So far the work has yielded nothing. I have informed the king that, without an infected demon as a sample, there is almost no way I can study this properly. What frightened me was the speed the he acquired one for me. It only took a few hours. He said that the men spotted one while training and captured it, but it seems to convenient. I'm not sure what to think.

ENTRY 3: The king continues to supply me with demons at surprising rates. It seems the instant I cannot use one another is delivered. He brings in as many demons as he can a day and stored them somewhere. His actions worry me. I have warned him of the danger, but he replied that it was not my concern and that I should stick to my research. I will continue, but reluctantly.

ENTRY 4: I continue to find nothing of value in these studies. I have only found something that appears to be how the demons take control of humans. It appears that, in addition to their magic, they release a chemical into the body of humans that aides in their control. I have isolated this compound and extracted it. The king wishes for me to find a way to reverse it and use it to take control of demons with it. This is an absurd idea. Even if that were to work the mists' power is too strong, no human could resist it while in the mist. He insists that I follow through on his command.

ENTRY 5:Yesterday a visitor came to the castle. Her wore a black hood and cloak and did not give his name. he spoke of ways to overpower the demons and still have controls of them despite the mists' power. The king was glad to hear such news. When I tried to speak I was silenced. The king talked with this man and was told that he would give us the secret to this control in three days. We only had to follow his instruction and bring enough demons for each person in the castle in that time. The king has stopped my research, he no longer demes it necessary.

ENTRY 6: Three days have passed and the man returned. The king brought everyone in to the main hall as per instruction. Since the demons were kept in the dungeon he brought everyone down there. As if by command the stranger brought mist into the castle and it flowed into the dungeon. As the mist took over the demons attached to everyone. The man laughed and spoke of the idiocy of the king. To think that the demons could be used in the mist was absurd. I ran to escape the demons and made it here to my study. Hopefully they will not find me. The kings wish to use these creatures as weapons drove us to are demise. If I am not discovered here I will die. If anyone finds this journal and this castle is still infected, please kill king Fuyutsuki. He deserves nothing less for bring all these people into hell.

Rei looked around the room and saw a skeleton in the corner. It had the white haori jacket like the painting in the hall.

"That was the doctor." she said. "I should go to the dungeon and check on these people. If the king still wishes this evil I will fulfill your dieing wish and end his life."

Rei stood up and exited the room.

As Rei walked out of the room and down the stairs she was attacked by the large, crystalline demons that she had avoided earlier. As one charged at her she evaded by jumping over it and landing easily behind it. The next demon swung the blades of its head at Rei and she blocked them by pulling out her sword just enough , but not all the way. The last ones blades glowed blue and shot a beam at Rei. She dodged and the area behind her was frozen.

"Ice magic. Interesting."

After the dodge Rei finished drawing her sword and cut the demon that she had blocked on the side. It cried out in pain and fell to the ground. The initial one that attacked her charged again this time jumping into the air and coming down at her. Rei ran underneath it cutting its belly as she went . The demon landed on the ground in a heap and died. The last continued to attack Rei with its ice magic which she had a difficult time avoiding. After several dodges much of the ground was frozen which made it hard to get footing. After one ice attack Rei jumped and flipped half way over so her feet hit the ceiling. Quickly she summoned her fire demon and it attacked with its fire magic. While the demons fought Rei came back down from the ceiling and thrust her sword into the back of the ice demon killing it. It died and her demon disappeared.

"Damn that was hard. And all this stupid ice." She looked at the demons who lay dead on the floor. "Is there a trick to this? Couldn't one offer its self to me or do I have to do that? This power is too confusing."

Rei left the battle scene and walked down toward the dungeon of the castle.

Rei eventually arrived at the dungeon . It was slightly difficult to find with several doors and false passageways to it. Apparently they were very serious about keeping prisoners down there. When she finally arrived she saw that everyone was controlled by a demon. The crystal structures wrapped around them and their eyes blank as if their minds were lost. She looked at them in horror at what the mist could do. Then she noticed one of the people had large silver armor with the crest of two swords.

"That's Fuyutsuki." She said. She jumped over several of the controlled people and pulled out her sword. She stuck it into the wall and used it to suspended herself there. She jumped from her spot on the wall and landed by the controlled Fuyutsuki. As he turned around as if to attack her she placed her hand on is head and was in the black void that she spoke with the first demon in.

"King Fuyutsuki, are you there?"

"Kill. Kill. Kill"

"That's the demon. Is the human Fuyutsuki still in there?"

Rei sorted through the thoughts of the demon and found a small bit of human consciousness.

"What the hell is this?" the voice said.

"I am speaking to you through the demon." replied Rei. "I think this is only possible because you are being controlled by a demon."

"I am not being controlled this demon is under my power."

"Why would you send your people into a hell like this? You have no control. You have been mindless creatures for years. The demons have you, your castle is engulfed in the mist."

"No matter. I will learn to control this demon and use it for my purposes."

"And what would those be?"

"Why war of course. The people of this world are vulnerable now. They can easily be taken over, but we have to travel through the mist. If we could use these demons for that purpose than the world would fall to me easily."

"Than your only desire is war? You care not for your people who have been suffering you years?"

"As long as they serve me in battle."

"Then you are hopeless."

Rei broke the trance and looked at Fuyutsuki. She drew her sword and brought it down on his head splitting it open. His blood sprayed and he, and his demon, fell dead.

"I have fulfilled you dieing wish Akagi. Now when I free this place the people will not be brought into war."

As Rei spoke the other people had turned and started to attack her. She dodged them not attacking anyone and escaped the mob. She walked out of the dungeon and headed up to the first level.

"I have to use those ice demons from earlier to free this place." She said as she walked up the stairs. "If only I could absorb one and then purify with the rest."

Rei walked into the main hall of the castle and as she walked she noticed something behind her. She turned around and brought up she sword and sheath from her belt to block an attack. Standing in front of her was a man only slightly taller than her, but her was completely covered by crystal structure.

"What are you?" she asked.

"Me?" he replied. "I'm just someone who has control of demons."

Rei looked at him again and he was, from head to toe, covered in demon, but it did not seem to control him. Also this man was using his hand as a weapon.

"Then who are you?" she asked.

"Who am I? Hmm, I'm not sure how to answer. My name was lost long ago. Usually they just call me Hachi."

"Hachi?"

The man brought his hand off of Reis' sword and attacked again. He was very fast just like Kenji. This time Rei dodged and drew her sword. She held it up and took a stance. Than as if by magic many images of Rei appeared and surrounded Hachi.

"Oh this is interesting. You made copies, or these are just illusions from speed. No matter I'll kill you anyway."

Hachi attacked one of the images and his attack went right threw it. He attacked another and the same thing happened.

"You can't touch me." Rei replied. "This is an ultimate defense, there is no way to hit me while I'm in this stance. Similarly you can't escape me either."

"Oh really." said Hachi and jumped up into the air away from the circle of Reis. While in the air he was attacked by Rei.

"Really." she said her attacked barley blocked by Hachi. "You think I am so slow I couldn't stop you? I'll ask again who are you?"

They both landed on the ground and Hachi jumped back relaxing his body.

"Fine, you want an answer, I'll give you one. I'm a man who surrendered himself to demons, but kept control. I have all there power and can act freely of its will."

"What? Are there others like you?"

"You expect me to spill all my secrets? Yes There are several. We serve the Shinigami."

"Bastard." Rei charged at Hachi and swung at his throat. He stepped back and disappeared.

"You can't win against us Shinpishugisha. There are eight of us and I'm the weakest. You can't even stop me. You'll die soon." His voice came from nowhere and then faded.

Just then another one of the ice demons came into the room. As it walked toward Rei she exhaled and closed her eyes. As the demon attacked she turned and palmed it in the forehead. The demons body disintegrated and its spirit stayed. It continued to walk forward and merge with Reis' body. She opened her eyes after it finished.

"Apparently I figured out the trick to it." she said with a laugh. "Now I just have to free this castle of the mist."

Rei stood in the middle of the room and closed her eyes and started to empty her thoughts. "Use my spirit and commune with the earth and demons." she said as she relaxed. Eventually her mind was blank and energy surged through her. As if calling the demons many came to the room around her. She turned and attacked one demon and in an instant, like before, spoke with it and calmed it so it would help her. The demons sacrificed themselves and the mist was pushed out of the castle. The castle grounds and the surrounding area were also cleared.

"Alright!" Rei said happily. "I've got this Shinpishugisha stuff down pat. I should go check on the people in the dungeon and she if they're ok."

Rei ran down to the dungeon and found everyone still there looking very confused.

"Hello everyone." Rei called. "I know your all probably a little disoriented, but I need to ask you what happened and who's in charge."

"Our king Fuyutsuki is in charge." someone called.

"Yeah well, if you look behind you you'll see that he's dead."

Everyone looked behind and gasped in horror.

"Please follow me up to the main floor so we can all get away from the blood and then we'll talk." Rei walked up to the main hall and everyone followed.

Once there Rei turned to the large group of people and asked again who was in charge. This time a soldier stepped forward and introduced himself.

"I am Honzaimon, one of Fuyutsuki's generals. It appears that I am in charge now."

"Ok well can you tell me what happened?"

"Yes. Recently King Fuyutsuki had made a deal with a man in a black cloak to be able to control demons and use them for war. He brought us down to the dungeon as per instruction and the mist was brought in and we were all taken over instead of being able to use the demons for are will."

"I see. That matches with Akagi's story perfectly."

"You have meet Doctor Akagi? Where is she? Is she well?"

"She dead." Rei said calmly. "She ran to her study after you were taken over and died there."

"How can this be? Was she attacked by demons."

"How long do you think you were down there?"

"It can't have been long, a few days maybe."

"Akagi showed no signs of being attacked she apparently died on her own. There was only a skeleton left. You apparently have been under the control of the demons for many years."

"How can this be? It does not feel as though…"

"Look at everyone, do they look the same as they did or do you all seem older?"

Honzaimon looked at everyone and did notice that they had aged. "My god . Those demons stole years from us. This is all the fault of that hooded man and Fuyutsuki."

"Hence Fuyutsuki dead in the dungeon. It was Akagi's dieing wish to have him killed for his sins. I did just that."

"So I take it you are the one who freed us?"

"Yes. I am Shinpishugisha and I have the power to purify the demons of the mist's poison and can use them to purify the mist from a small area. Your castle and its ground will no longer have the mist, but you can't venture very far outside the walls. The mist is still there."

"I see at least the grounds can still be used. We should be able to support ourselves here."

"I am very happy that I was able to help you all, but I must be going so I can help other people now."

"No you mustn't leave. We have to properly thank you for your deeds. Men!"

"Yes sir!" several men said in unison.

"Go and obtain whatever food you can for our savior and have the women prepare a bath and bed."

"Yes sir."

"Thank you Honzaimon." Rei said with a bow.

Several hours later Rei sat at a table with a few dishes in front of her. Each had a very small amount of food on it. She was apologized to several times for the meager meal, but there was very little food to be found around the castle. After her meal she took a bath that was prepared for her. The attending maids were surprised to find that Rei was actually a woman. They did not expect one to be so strong and be able to same a whole castle. The soldier uniform also added to the confusion. If it were not for her voice she could pass easily as a man.

After the bath and meal Rei went to the bed they had prepared for her and lay down to sleep. There she stayed awake for a while thinking.

"How could they not know I was a girl at all? I don't look like a man. My clothes do, but not my face and my voice is not masculine at all. This castle is full of morons." Rei held her hand up into the air and looked at it and sighed. "That was the first time I killed a human and I was thanked for it. I never expected that to be the reaction I got. I feels strange to kill a human, especially since I'm not one." Rei put her thoughts away and went to sleep.

Rei awoke the next morning feeling greatly refreshed and slightly hungry. She left her room and walked around the castle in an attempt to find Honzaimon. When she did she was greeted as if she were a king, everyone in the room bowed and said, "Good morning Rei-sama," in unison.

"Good morning." Rei replied slightly confused by the greeting.

"What can we do for you this morning Rei-sama?" asked Honzaimon.

"Well I just wanted your opinion on where I should go next."

"Excellent. What are your ideas?"

"I don't actually have any I just have a map."

"Let's take a look at it shall we."

Rei took her map and unrolled it on a table in the room.

"I'm from this village here and this castle was the closest so I came here. Do you have any educated idea on where I should go?"

"Hmm, let me see. Where did you get this map, It's very good?"

"From my master. He came from a temple in the east, I was thinking about heading there soon."

"The last place you want to go is east, not this time of year."

"Huh, why?"

"This time of year terrible storms rage from the sea in the east. The temple is here yes?" he pointed at a building on the map.

"That's probably it yes."

"I see. It's far to close to the eastern shore, you won't survive the storms being outside. The north or south are you best bets."

"Ok so I can't go to the temple until when?"

"It would probably be best to wait until after the winter to go there."

"Damn that's a long wait. Ok I think I'll head north."

"But Rei-sama the weather is getting colder. If you go North there is a great chance you'll be trapped by the snow."

"I've heard the north has snow most of the year, so it would be a problem whenever I went. Also its closer to us than the south., and I'd rather not go island hopping down there. Besides if I can make it to a town in time I can weather the winter there and then head to the temple in the spring."

"As you wish Rei-sama. I'll get some men together to go with you. I shall also find provisions and horses and…"

"No thank you." Rei interjected. "You need all the men and resources you can get here. This castle has been neglected for years, you should worry about it before me."

"But Rei-sama there must be something we can do for you? WE must show are gratitude for saving us."

"Just point me in a good direction and I'll be happy. Do you know any of the towns or villages to the north or anything about which route I should take?"

"I know very little, we were never able to communicate with the outside very much. I can tell you that you should take this road here. It goes over a mountain yes, but it is much safer than any other of the mountain passes."

"So I hike this mountain because it's the safest? That makes sense."

"I know you said that was enough, but there must be something else we can do for you."

"Actually there is now that I think of it. This is a military fortress, would you by any chance have knives or daggers I took take with me?"

"Of course. It's as you say this is a military stronghold. Follow me."

Honzaimon took Rei outside and to a building out the back of the castle. When Honzaimon opened the door it was impossible to see because there was no light. When a lamp was obtained and lit he brought her into the building.

"This is our storeroom of spare weapons. Every type of blade contrived by man is represented here, take your pick."

"I'm not looking for much, I just need smaller knives and daggers so I can catch food and skin it."

"Weapons such as that would be kept over here." he motioned to the left side of the building.

Rei walked to that area and inspected several of the blades. They were finely crafted and would serve her purpose well. After taking a few small knives and some throwing daggers she wrapped them up in a cloth and walked out with them.

"You wouldn't happen to have any rope would you?" she asked.

"We may still have some. As you as it has been a long time I hope it has not been eaten away at by beasts."

"I don't need much, just enough to make a trap out of."

Honzaimon searched and eventually found rope that would serve Reis' purpose. Rei packed the knives and rope into a bag that was given to her and she started to leave that castle.

"Thank you for the supplies." she said humbly.

"No need to thank us it is less than the least we could do for you after saving us. I feel as though we have not done enough."

"This is plenty. Like I said you should focus on getting yourselves back on your feet. I also suggest focusing less on war and more on other things."

"Your advice shall be kept in mind Rei-sama." he said and bowed.

Rei left Fuyutsuki castle and headed north toward the mountains. She had no real destination she would just go to which ever town she could find and do what she could there.

"That castle will not stray away from war." she said after she had left the outer wall. "That general is not much different from Fuyutsuki. I hope he doesn't decide to attack any small villages when there is no more mist. If he does I will stop him myself."

Later that day Rei stopped and picked a place to set up camp for the night. She cut some fire wood from a dead tree and started a fire. She sat near it to rest and take another look at here map. Upon this second look she noticed that there was a small village that Kenji did not name directly after the mountain pass.

"After I get off the mountain it is just a small trip west to this village. I wonder why it isn't named though? Anyway it looks it will take me a while before I get to this mountain. At least a week. I could get to a village much faster if I went east, but Honzaimon said I shouldn't. Should I trust him? I guess I'd have to go north eventually so I might as well go now."

Rei lay down on the grass and looked up at the sky as it darkened. She always liked the look of the sky as night came, it was very peaceful and the sometimes very pretty is the setting sun gave of vibrant color. The stars were nice, but there was something about the transition from day to night that she could not explain.

"A week before I get to the mountain and then I'll be in the north. I wonder what it looks like. I've never been to a mountain or seen as much snow as Honzaimon talked about. I bet its beautiful."

The thought of snow sent Rei off to sleep without thinking of protection from demon attacks.

AUTHORS NOTE:

Alright the first two chapters of my first fantasy fic. I know it's a little strange, but strange is usually good. I got rid of Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko fast because I don't like them and didn't want to include them in anything important. An for anyone thinking it the black hooded guy is not Gendo or a SELEE guy. SELEE probably wont be here and there is no way I'm making Gendo the important evil bastard he always is. He'll be in here just not as the ass behind everything. Can you tell my opinion of this guy. I hope you like this story so far, I chose to make Rei the main character because she is my favorite and I haven't read anything where she was more important than Shinji. Other characters will be introduced soon I'm just not sure when.


	3. Chapter 3

Three days past since Rei freed Fuyutsuki castle and she was steadily making here way north to the mountain pass. She was becoming used to being attacked by demons at any time including while she slept. Fortunately for her she was always alert and had now two demons to help her. It was odd, but there were times when she wanted to find other demons and purify them so that she could use them. It was a strange want for the magic power of them that she never felt before.

"I wonder what other types of demons there are?" she often asked herself. "I've got a fire one, an ice one, is the a wind one that flies, or a lighting one? It could be interesting to find out." Rei would never go looking for demons just to get more power, but natural curiosity is not something that one can help.

On the fourth day Rei had her questions answered. As she was taking a drink from a stream she noticed something move out of the corner of her eye. She continued to drink as though she had noticed nothing to bring the creature out into the open. Moments later the creature attacked and Rei disappeared as it attacked.

The creature was a large snake like creature and was crystal like the other. It had Two large fangs coming from its upper jaw and a large blade at the end of its tail.

Rei appeared behind it as quickly as she had disappeared. "Why do they all have big blades on them, I thought they were meant to assist humans?"

The snake realized that she was behind it and turned to attack again. As it attacked again Rei flipped backward and kicked the demon in the head as she did. When she landed she attacked the snake again to the head, but this time with her hands. After several palms to the head region the demon fell to the ground. Rei calmly exhaled when the demon fell and looked at it. Quietly the demon stood back up and as it did its body fell to pieces leaving only its spirit. The snake spirit than moved in and wrapped itself around Rei and merged with her.

"Ok all I have to do is focus on the demons thoughts when I attack and I can purify it. Now I should see if I can find a way to do it without attacking, like the first time. I wonder." Rei sat down and meditated like she had the night her village was attacked. She wanted to talk with that voice and ask it to help her with her powers. If she could better understand her power than maybe she could purify the demons on sight and master that blue glow.

Rei eventually emptied herself of all thoughts and felt for the energy of the earth like she had before. After a while she found herself in the same void as when she asked demons to clear the mist.

_Yes my child. Is there something I can help you with? _said the voice.

"Yes there is I have a mountain of questions. Can I start off by asking what exactly you are?"

_I am everything and nothing. I have no form and can not be explained by human words. The simplest explanation is I am the energy of the earth. I believe that is how you would explain me._

"Whoa, I'm talking to the planet? That's amazing."

_It is a power of the Shinpishugisha. You had the ability bestowed upon you at creation to pull power from me and use it. You cannot take power from something you cannot speak with._

"Ok that makes sense. The reason I called you was I wanted some understanding of my power. The first time I used it the power just surged threw me and I was able to purify the demon without touching it. Now I have to attack it and focus on the power. Can you explain to me how to use my, your power like that?"

_It is not something that can be properly conveyed into words. You must understand your energy and the demons. It is easiest for you when you fight with it you must teach yourself the rest on your own. You like all of your kind must master understanding of self and the planet._

"Ok. Thank you. I guess there is a good reason why we pay homage to the earth and its spirits."

The voice did not reply. Rei came out of the trance and opened her eyes. She stood up and looked at the river that she sat in front of. She had a new gratitude for the water and what it provided for her. The idea of being Shinpishugisha was growing on her. She felt as though it made her understand things better and have a better view of the world. She walked again toward her destination to the north.

Two days latter Rei was getting close to her destination. She could see the mountain clearly and was amazed by the sight of it. The stories of mountains she had heard as a child had made them sound like places of adventure. Places that would be hard to climb and be full of caves, ledges, and cliffs she would have to climb. She imagined a triumphant feeling of reaching the top and looking down to see what was below her. She shook her head and focused on walking forward. She still had at least a day before she even got there let alone reaching the summit.

"I can't wait." Rei said. "I shouldn't day dream like this, but it's so cool. I get something no one in my village has seen in over a hundred years. Something that you hear of in bed time stories as a child." Rei felt slightly sad after completing her sentence. She remembered being told the stories by her mother before she died and than by her father. She remembered telling the stories to Saori and seeing the look on her face as she imagined the beautiful images. "I have to get rid of the mist so I can bring Saori to see everything in the stories."

Rei continued to walk toward her destination. Her new determination to get there and destroy the mist made her walk faster than she normally would.

The next day she reached the mountain pass shortly before noon. At the base of the pass there was a large wooden arch like those said to be around temples. It was painted red but most of the color had faded with time. Rei was in aw over this sight. When she refocused she noticed that there was an inscription on one of the pillars. It read CURSED SERPENT ROAD DO NOT CROSS.

"And this is the safe pass." she said. "I should go back and find another rout that isn't so dreadfully named." Rei looked up at the path. "No, it's right here. The other paths could be days away. I'll take this one because I'm right here."

Rei walked under the arch and up the path, hoping the warning was not to serious.

Climbing the mountain was much harder than Rei though it was going to be. Her sandals provided terrible traction on the stone slope and she had to work harder than normal to maintain her footing. Even after all her training with Kenji she was not used to this. They had never been up a mountain after all. By the end of the day she could still she the gate that started he path. She was not able to gain as much height as she hoped for the first day. She picked a tree to sleep against and rested for the night. She fell asleep quickly because she was exhausted from the climb.

The next day Rei continued her climb after a small meal. She had been living on vegetables for the past several days as she could not find a small animal to eat. Her strength was probably suffering as a result. After a few hours of climbing she noticed a small patch of plants on the trail. For some reason there was a patch of root vegetables growing there. As far as Rei knew someone would have to tend to these plants so that they would grow like this. Especially since they were quiet neatly planted. Unfortunately for the farmer of the vegetables she took up several of them and put them into her pack. It wasn't meat, but root vegetables would provide her with much more energy than the ones she had been eating.

At noon Rei noticed a bird sitting in a tree that was protruding from the side of the mountain. She slowly and carefully pulled out a throwing dagger and prepared to kill the bird. With the smallest amount of movement possible she tossed the knife at the bird and killed it. It fell to the ground and landed with a thud. The bird did not call out as it died.

"Alright, finally some meat to eat. Those beans and vegetables have not been enough food lately." Rei said thanks to the earth and bird for supplying and being her meal and proceeded to ready the bird to be eaten. After quite some time she finally had the bird ready and a fire going. The bird was cooking and she waited patiently.

"This should give me enough energy to operate for a while. I might be able to gain more ground on the mountain afterwards. I miss my village and the eggs we used to have. Oh well I have to live with what I have."

When the bird was finished cooking Rei sat and ate the entire bird. It was slightly larger than a chicken and had quite a bit of meat on it. Unfortunately it tasted nothing like a chicken, it was terrible. If Rei had had a choice she would not have eaten it, but she did not have a choice, she had killed it and thanked it for its sacrifice she had to respect it. After she finished Rei looked up at the sky. It was not too late in the day, so she decided to keep walking. She walked until the sun set and then decided to rest.

Shortly after Rei started walking the next day she thought that she would have to turn back. She came across an large gorge that was in the path. The gap between her side an the other was at least fifty meters and the drop was extremely large.

"I'm not sure if I can jump that and there aren't enough hand holds on the side for me to scale the gap. Damn what do I do? I can't walk back and loose three days."

Rei crossed her arms to think. She thought about the possibility of jumping and about trying to run across the side of the mountain above the gap. Neither of these ideas seemed very good to her. She continue to ponder and tried to think if her demons could help her. Fire could not. Ice maybe, it was possible she could make a bridge out of the ice and then precariously cross it. What about the third one? She had no idea what it could do. Maybe it could help her. Rei focused on the demon spirits that lived inside her. She tried to commune with them like she did with the planet and ask them for help. In that brief moment the snake demon spoke to her. A quick hiss and she knew what it was and what it could do.

Rei uncrossed her arms and looked at the gorge. She held out her arm and summoned the demon snake. When it appeared it looked at the gorge and moved toward the edge. When it got close the demon bowed its head to the ground and merged with the rock. It came out the side of the cliff as stone and extended almost the entire was across the gorge. The newly formed rock was still shaped like the snake. Rei muttered a thanks and walked across. The remaining gap was quite small in comparison to the original space and she easily hoped across to the other side.

"That was interesting." Rei said calmly. "I wonder what else I can use that power for." Rei continued to walk along the path up the mountain.

Later that evening Rei had reached the end of the path. Now all that was left were several ledges straight up the side of the mountain. She would have to climb or jump up the ledges to make it the rest of the way. She also noticed something very interesting, there was no mist there on the mountain. It seemed to stop just a short way below her and did not extend this far.

"This is also interesting," Rei said softly, "The mist can't rise up this high. So from this altitude and up there will be no demons controlled by the mist. I wonder if there are any people who escaped up here away from it all. That would be very interesting."

While continuing to think Rei jumped up several ledges. They were about seven meters apart going mostly up and only slightly off to the side. It would have been a pain to scale by hand and especially hard if she were a normal human. Maybe it was reasons like this that this pass was not crossed. After going up ten or eleven sledges, and seeing that there were still many left to go, Rei decided to stop for the night. There was no danger of attack on the ledge with no mist and she would not fall off if she slept there. Rei sat against the mountain looking out at the landscape below. She pulled out some of the root vegetable that she had gathered a few days ago and began to eat.

While she ate she talked out loud, "The world looks so peaceful from up here. It doesn't look at all like we're trapped by an evil mist and our own walls. It just looks like a world of nature and humans, existing as they should. Everything is too far away for me to tell what it is. It would be funny if I could see Fuyutsuki castle from here." Rei paused to take a bite of food. "There has got to be someone on this mountain, there's no way these grew on there own. Hopefully I'll find them."

While she finished eating Rei continued to look out at the world and think of it as peaceful, to think of it as it could be, as it should be. She wondered, only for a moment, how long it would take her to accomplish her task. She quickly put that though out of her mind. Those kinds of thought were pointless, she would finish when she finished, there was no way to rush it.

Rei slept on the ledge that night quite nicely. Despite the fact that she was dangerously close to a ledge that only had a fall to her death beyond it she was quite calm and well rested. After a quick meal Rei continued her climb up the mountain. She continued to jump from ledge to ledge. She was getting used to climbing the mountain and the extra movement with ever thinning air. With every day it seemed like there was less to breath, but everyday it came easier to her. It was like growing up, she was able to adjust to things quickly and learn the best way to do them. It was times like this that Rei wondered why she ever disliked that part of her.

About half way through the day, slightly before the sun was directly overhead, Rei had made it to the top of the ledges. There, there was a large flat plateau and a cave at the other end. It looked as though she would have to go through the cave to get to the other side of the mountain and down the other side. She walked to the cave and entered looking around for anything that could go wrong.

After quite some time in the cave Rei let her guard up just enough so she would not be entirely focused of safety. Instead she took the time to notice that, even thought she was inside of a mountain, there was light in the cave. On the top of the cave there were rocks that glowed a brilliant green color. They illuminated the cave and made it possible to see. It was very beautiful and cool at the same time.

As she walked into the cave more she noticed that thee were tracks and foot prints of people across the floor. Some of them were very recent and some were quite old. From what she could tell most of the new track were from a girl around her size and age. The other ones were from many other people of varying size and age, but some time ago they stopped, almost as if they disappeared. By knowing this Rei figured that she would run into the people, or person, that had planted the vegetables down the mountain. Maybe this person could tell her more about the northern country and help her getting to her destination.

Later that day, when it was most likely getting close to night, Rei sat down against the wall of the cave. She had not expected it to be as deep as it was. It seemed as thought it was going down into the base of the mountain very slowly and in a long winding path. If this was the way down she really didn't care, but she worried for a moment that this path would lead her to a dead end and she would have to back track, loosing more time. She put that idea out of her head quickly and kept positive.

Inside the cave Rei had a strange dream. She dreamt about people living inside this cave. Living as thought they could not leave even for a moment. The dreamt that they felt safe for many years and then, without warning something bad happened. One by one people died for no reason, some would just died in the middle of a task with no sign that the would. Others would feel there death coming and leave the cave never to be seen again. Eventually there was only one person left, a small lonely girl. She was the only one who didn't die and had to live without other people for the rest of her life.

When Rei awoke from that dream she was horrified. She was unsure if it was truth she could feel from that place because of her Shinpishugisha power or just bad thoughts from analyzing the foot prints the day before. She could hardly ever tell what was real and what was a dream when it came to her powers. Despite being disturbed from the dream, Rei got up and continued her trek through the cave.

After several hours of walking, Rei could not tell the time of day, with the only light coming from the constant glow of the rocks she could not distinguish night from day, She came across another peculiar sight. This time instead of a row of root vegetables it was a large patch of seemingly cultivated mushrooms. The patch covered half the cave and ran some ten meters down it all uniform and utilizing the space it the most efficient way possible. Someone very skilled had actually planted fungus inside a cave in a controlled way. Rei had never seen or heard of anything like this. Despite the fact that someone had clearly worked very hard on this Rei kneeled down and plucked a mushroom from the ground. She was slightly sick of eating the other vegetables and thought that, since they were there, mushrooms would be a good change.

After taking and eating one Rei went to grab a second. They were surprisingly good and she wanted a few more before she carried one. As she grabbed the mushroom and took it of the rock a voice yell from down the tunnel.

"Hey what the hell do you think your doing? Those are mine!"

Rei looked up at the voice that yelled so effectively in the echoing tunnel and was very interested. It was a female voice, probably the one that belonged to the foot prints she saw earlier. As she thought about this the voice yelled again, this time louder.

"Are you listening? I said what are you doing steeling my food?" The person that the voice belong to walked closer to Rei and asked once more. "Who are you and what do you think your doing taking my food?"

Rei stood up. "Sorry, I figured these belonged to someone, but I didn't think taking two would be a problem. I apologize for my transgressions and humbly seek your forgiveness."

"Are you dense that only answered one of my questions." The girl said with a slight hint of confusion in her voice. "WHO ARE YOU?"

"My name is Rei and I'm a traveler from the south. I'm trying to go north and I needed some food to continue my journey."

"Wait you're a traveler? Does that mean that there is no more mist out there?"

"Unfortunately no. I have been fighting my way through it until a few days ago when the mist didn't come up any higher."

"Wow that's amazing, you can fight off demons? And of course the mist wont go this high. Why do you think we came here in the first place?"

"I wouldn't know. I was unaware that there were people living in this mountain, and until about two weeks ago that there was even a mountain here."

"Come with me," said the girl with a happy grin on here face, "lets go to my home and we can talk more there."

"Ok." Rei followed the girl further into the cave.

While they walked Rei thought that this girl was very odd. She could sense a quiet sadness in the girl and wondered what it was from. Was this the girl from her dream, could it really have been true? The other thing that interested her about the girl was her hair, it has red.

After a about thirty minutes of walking they arrived at a huge room inside the cave. There were several huts built out of straw, leaves and rocks, but no sign of anyone but the girl. This room was much better lit than the rest of the cave and Rei could see the girl much more clearly. The girl turned around and looked at Rei. After a few moments she moved her face very close to Rei's and looked very intently at her. Her face was very serious. After a few moments of that the girl backed away and smiled.

"This is cool. You and I are opposites of each other. I have red hair and blue eyes and you have blue hair and red eyes."

Rei stood there slightly confused. It was true, but she never expected this girl, who was so angry a moment ago, would find it so fascinating.

"You know you really don't look much like a girl with those clothes. You look more like the soldiers from stories. I'm Asuka by the way. Nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure Asuka. So, what exactly is this?"

"It's my home. What a stupid question . Are you always this dense?"

"No I mean is this a village or a hideout or…?" Rei paused. "And where is everyone else? It's not just you is it?"

"Yup it's just me. Everyone else either left or died." Asuka replied with a surprising lack of sorrow. "When the mist came my village moved from the base of this mountain up here to escape it and all of a sudden people started to get sick and die. It was pretty awful. I was only a kid and everyone around me died except me."

"That's horrible." Rei replied. "How were you able to survive here all by yourself for so long?"

"Because I'm not an idiot. I watched the others when I was little and learned enough to take care of myself. I had no choice." She finally said with some sorrow.

"I'm sorry for asking you about such painful things."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not sad, they've been dead for so long I've gotten over it. Come on lets sit over there, I can make us some tea."

"Tea in a cave?"

"Yeah. It's special, only grows here and nowhere else."

"Sounds good." Rei replied.

As Asuka prepared the tea Rei sat there thinking about what Asuka had said. She was able to get over the deaths of here village because it was so long ago. She was either amazingly strong or a liar. It had been eleven years since Rei's mother died and she still felt sad about it. Her thoughts were interrupted by Asuka sticking a tea cup into her face.

"Here." she said happily. Asuka was obviously very pleased to be interacting with another person. "So," she said to break the silence, "what are you exactly? I don't mean that to sound bad, but I was told that is was impossible to travel through the mist and not be taken over or killed. How'd you do it?"

Rei paused for a moment not sure if she should answer. She did not know how Asuka would react to her being a Shinpishugisha and she did not want to scare her away already. "Well it's not impossible." Rei replied. "My master did it when he traveled from his home to my village many years ago. If your strong enough than you can do it. Me on the other hand, I'm not only strong, but I'm…" Rei paused.

"Your what?" said Asuka.

"I am Shinpishugisha. I have the power to control demons that I've defeated and can use them to destroy the mist in a localized area. I'm actually traveling trying to just that until I can destroy the mist outright."

"Aren't Shinpishugisha the ones that made this mist to begin with?"

"I'm not sure, and even if they did it wasn't me and I will stop it." Rei said with a serious look on her face.

Asuka burst into laughter. "Wow you take this seriously huh? I was always told that Shinpishugisha were evil, but I don't necessarily believe it. I mean come on, I just found out it is possible to walk in the mist. I'll believe anything soon."

"So, you don't care what I am?"

"No of course not. You've done nothing bad, except take my mushrooms. I'm talking to a nice person, not an evil demon who wants to kill me."

"Thank you Asuka for not being scared of me."

"Huh?"

"In my village everyone else was always afraid of me for the color of my hair and eyes. I frightened them. When they found out I was Shinpishugisha they kicked me out of the village. I've been journeying to stop the mist ever sense."

"Wow that's bad."

Both girls sat silent for a moment. At the same time they both burst into laughter.

"What's wrong with me?" asked Asuka. "I meet someone for the first time and we both end up spilling are guts to each other."

"It is strange huh? I've never been this open with anyone."

"I guess we have to be friends now huh?"

"I guess so."

They both laughed again.

"So Rei, you said you were headed north. Why?"

"It seemed like the best destination. Also there's a small town right near this mountain that I can stop at."

"No you can't. That's my village. The one that was abandoned one hundred years ago."

"Oh, I guess that I wont be able to stop for a while then huh?"

"Guess not." Asuka looked down at the floor. "Hey Rei, could I come with you? You know on your journey. I'm not magic by any means, but I know I can help. Please?"

Rei looked at Asuka. She was about her height with long red hair stopping at her waist. Her build was about the same as hers and her clothes were like the ones she had trained with Kenji in. Asuka's breast were quite a bit larger than hers, but she decided to keep that fact quiet for as long as she could.

"Do you have any fighting experience?" asked Rei.

"Some. Like I said I was able to watch everyone else when I was little and I retained some of the moves I saw the older men doing."

"Let's take a look then shall we." Rei stood up and motioned for Asuka to do the same. "Attack me, I want to see what you can do."

"Ok." Asuka said with a hint of pride in her voice. She took a stance that was noticeably weak, but would be good if she had any real training. Asuka attacked Rei very quickly, much faster than she expected.

Rei easily avoided the attack, but Asuka rebounded and attacked again, also very fast. The exchange of Asuka attacking and Rei dodging continued for a few moments and than Rei finally countered one of Asuka's strikes. While not intending to hurt her she did try to hit her, Asuka was able to block and make space between them.

"Your pretty good." said Rei. "I like your speed."

"Haha, I can be faster, I'll get you this time."

Asuka attacked again and this time she was indeed faster. The training and living at such a high altitude must have made Asuka used to the thin air and much more able to operate there. Rei enjoyed the advantage Asuka had because if it. For this attack Rei jumped over Asuka and attacked her from behind stopping her blow just before it would have connected with the back of her neck.

"Your good, especially for not being trained. I think you should come with me."

"Really? Great."

Rei and Asuka sat down and talked for the next several hours. Rei told Asuka about her life and Asuka about hers. The told each other of all the things that troubled and hurt them and all the things they liked. Asuka told Rei about life inside a mountain and Rei told Asuka stories of her travels and about her village. Each one talked for as long as they could until the other interrupted out of interest.

"Wow," said Asuka, "I've only ever heard of an ocean and that was a long time ago. I'd really like to see one."

"I had never seen a mountain until now. I can't wait to go north and see lots of snow."

"That would be amazing." Asuka yawned after she finished her sentence.

"Are you tired?"

"Yeah it's late after all."

"Really? I can't tell what time of day it is in here."

"You get used to it having grown up in here. So tomorrow, we will continue out of her and on our journey?"

"Yeah, it will be much better traveling with a friend than alone. I have to warn you though, it is very dangerous out there."

"I'll be fine I'm the great Asuka after all." This caused both the girls to laugh.

"We should probably sleep so we can start early tomorrow."

"Yeah, here this way I think there's a spot where you can sleep."

"You Don't have to do that. I can just sleep against the wall, it's what I've done for most of my trip."

"I can't let my one and only friend do that. Come on, I'm sure there is a spot for you." Asuka grabbed Rei's arm and pulled her into the cluster of huts.

Eventually Asuka was able to make a patch or ground soft enough to call it batter than a rock wall. Her spot was not much better, but she still called it a bed. The fabric it was made out of was so old and beat up that it was hard to distinguish it from the various plant and leave discarding on the floor of the cave. Rei enjoyed the bed as she hated sleeping against rocks.

The next morning when Rei woke up Asuka was already up and was preparing tea. She had a pile of mushrooms and a few other plants that Rei could not identify.

"Good your up the tea is just about ready and I got us some food."

"Thank you, that's very kind."

"I'm a little scared." Asuka said flatly. "I've never been too far outside this cave let alone down the mountain and into the world. I'm worried about what will happen."

"I was too the first day. Not many have gone outside there village in a hundred years because of the mist. It's only natural to be worried. But it will be alright, we'll be fine. And besides, we're doing this so that everyone will one day be able to walk the earth freely again."

"Your right. Thanks. Here's your tea."

"Thank you." Rei said with a chuckle.

After they finished eating Asuka and Rei packed up there things, which were minimal, and some extra food ad set out on their journey. Asuka led the way out of the cave and into the open light of the day. By the time they had gotten out it was almost noon. Rei was unsure if it had really taken that long or if she over slept. The weird lighting made her stay awake and sleep oddly. It was no really concern because she was out of the cave and traveling with a friend. Slowly Asuka guided them down the path to the bottom of the mountain. By the end of the day the had reached the level that the mist would reach. Asuka turned around and walked quite a ways back up the trail.

"Is something wrong Asuka?" asked Rei.

"It's getting dark and I don't want to sleep near the mist tonight. Tomorrow we'll go the rest of the way."

Rei looked softly at Asuka. "You don't have to worry about the mist. As long as your alert you wont be caught off guard. And besides I'm used to it and I wont let anything bad happen to you."

"Well we can go down tomorrow anyway I want to sleep now."

"Ok Asuka."

Rei sat next to Asuka who was sitting against a large rock. They both sat there quietly together until they fell asleep. They were both very calm that night despite being so close to the evil mist.

The next morning Asuka and Rei awoke and walked right down into the mist eating as they walked. This was Rei's idea to get Asuka into the mist quickly so she would not have a reason to stall. It took most of the day for them to be attacked. But until then it was very calm. Except for the constant vapor drifting across the land the area with mist was no different from above it. The same grass grew, the same trees, and the same animals moved across the ground. When they got attacked, of course, it was different.

As they walked Rei at one time said to Asuka, "Be careful ok."

Asuka puzzled replied, "Huh?"

"There are demons around us so keep your guard up, don't let them attack you from behind."

"Ok." Asuka said slightly nervous, she had never actually been in a battle before.

After a few minutes the demons came out from behind the rocks and attacked the group. They were goblins much like the ones Rei fought at Fuyutsuki castle, only they were slightly larger this time. There were only two and they had large clubs in their hands. Rei stood calmly and Asuka acted like she wanted to fight, as to hide her fear. The first goblin attacked Rei from the front. It swung its club straight down at he head and she simply side stepped it to avoid. The club hit the ground only a few inches away from her feet and jumped up kneeing the goblin in the chin. Immediately after she rotated her body and kicked the beast in the side of the head. Continuing her spin she came around and delivered another kick to the top of its head, dropping her heel onto it. The goblin fell down dead from the impacts of Rei's kicks.

"All right Rei!" Asuka cheered.

"Pay attention Asuka."

Asuka turned around to see the other goblin charging in at her. It swung its club from the side at her and she ducked underneath it. From her crouch she jumped up and sent a kick to the neck of the goblin. The goblin fell over on its back and Asuka landed with an amazed look on her face.

"I did it." she said stunned. "Holy shit I did it. I'm amazing."

While Asuka cheered. Rei walked over to the goblin Asuka kicked. Standing next to its head she drew her sword and thrust it into the neck of the goblin. Asuka gasped when Rei did this. Rei took the sword from the goblins neck and shook the blood from the blade. She then calmly put the sword back into its sheath.

"Wha- what the hell? Why did you do that?" Asuka asked in a panic.

"It was still alive so I just finished it off." Rei said calmly.

"What do you mean? My kick wasn't good enough? You didn't have to do that I beat it."

"Yes you did but it was just unconscious. We needed to kill it so it wouldn't come after us again."

Asuka stood there with a frightened look on her face.

"You've never thought about killing something like that have you?"

"No. I mean I've killed small animals with traps for food, but I've never thought of stabbing a beast like this in the throat. I never imagined you to be like that."

"This was a demon that never in its existence was meant to help people. It only existed to hurt us for its food. Killing it was the only way to stop that. And…" Rei paused. "I'm not a completely good person. I've killed a human before." Rei's eyes were down cast at this statement.

"What?"

"In Fuyutsuki castle, the king had sacrificed the whole castle to the mist to gain power. It was the dying wish of the doctor there that if he still desired that he be killed, and I did just that."

"…."

"Asuka you will have to kill these demons we face. I know what I did may have seemed harsh, but it was the best way to awaken you to the truth. I'm sorry for frightening you, ok."

"Yeah, ok."

"I know this is probably the wrong time, but have you ever used any weapons before?"

"When I was younger I used to play around with a staff. It was just a limb of an old tree, but I guess I was ok with it. I don't have a real one obviously."

"That's ok, we should be able it get you one somewhere if you want. No come on, lets keep walking. I don't want to keep looking at these corpses."

"Yeah."

Rei and Asuka continued on the path down the mountain. At night they found I nice spot to sit and light a fire. The fire was nice as it was quite cold that night. The time of year made it cold, but also their location. They were getting close to the north country so the weather would get steadily cooler from there. After a while of sitting quietly Asuka finally spoke.

"I'm sorry about earlier Rei."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I was useless. I couldn't do what I needed to in that battle. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. You have been exposed to a lot of new things in the past two days so it's natural that you be a little off. Also, you had no idea about killing these demons so how could you be expected to. An besides I never gave you a chance to kill it I just walked over and stabbed him. You could have if I had told you in advance or even right there. I handled that wrong, not you."

"Thank you Rei."

So when we fight again make sure you hit them more than once. I'm stronger from my training with Kenji so it's easier for me, but until you get used to it you have to work a little harder."

"Ok." Asuka said happily.

Rei tilted her head back and looked up at the stars. No matter what happened to her she always felt better looking at them. When she looked back down Asuka was also looking at the sky. Rei tilted her head back and continued looking at them.

"You like the stars too huh?" asked Rei.

"Yeah."

Rei liked looking at the stars, especially now that she had someone to look at them with.

The next day Rei and Asuka were attacked three times by demons, all the goblins like the day before. Asuka had no problem finishing them off as Rei had instructed. The goblins posed little trouble for the two of them and they felt very confident after each battle for their accomplishment. At the end of the day they were both exhausted from all the fighting, yet they still laughed around the fire.

"I can't believe how many of them there were." said Asuka.

"I know, that was the most I've fought in one day since my village was attacked."

"Do you think that will happen often?"

"I don't know. I don't know anything about the demons habits or this part of the country so I have no idea."

"Oh well, at least we know that we can handle it, right?"

"Yeah."

"We should probably reach the bottom tomorrow. Then it's flat land for quite some time."

"How do you know, you hardly ever left the cave let alone come this far?"

"All stories you moron, my parents told me all this before they died."

The two girls sat quietly for a few seconds and then started to laugh together. The fake exchange of angry words was a great relief after the long day of fighting. They both fell asleep soon after and slept with the glow of the fire keeping them warm and safe.

They reached the bottom of the mountain shortly after they woke up that morning. If only they had not been in so many fights the day before they could have made it sooner. At the base of the mountain where the path started there was an arch just like on the other side. This arch had the same warning as the other side. Rei was slightly confused by this.

"Both of these arches war about this being a cursed serpent pass. It wasn't that bad and there were no snakes. Do you know what the legend is behind this Asuka?"

"Well, my parents said that a few years before the mist came no one would go up this mountain because it was cursed. They said that a large snake did once reside in this mountain and would kill anyone that came up to high. Apparently one day a strange visitor came and offered to rid this mountain of the snake. He climbed up the mountain and about a week later came down with a large snakes head. To prove that it was safe he took seven people up to the top and back down again. And that's how we knew about the caves up there. It was almost like this man had come not to kill the snake, but to show us that we had a place to be safe from other dangers."

"And no one ever took the warning down from the arches huh?"

"No I guess not. The people at that time probably didn't want any visitors to their peaceful town so the left it. You know, now that I think about it, I think the story said that this stranger had red eyes just like you. Maybe a Shinpishugisha knew about the mist coming and wanted to save some of us."

"That would be amazing to hear. It would show that were not all bad. Unfortunately I don't know if there are even anymore of my kind left. Most of the that lived with humans were killed for being thought to have caused the mist and any that escaped were killed in other towns or went into hiding. I have no idea where they are or if they're out there."

"Well it doesn't matter too much. As long as we free the world from the mist it doesn't matter who's where." Asuka said with a smile.

"Your right."

The two girls continued along the path away from the mountain north toward their destination. At noon they stopped for a quick rest and a drink of water. There, Rei pulled out her map and looked once again at where she was going.

"Oh, what's that?" asked Asuka as she looked over Rei's shoulder.

"It's my map of the country so I have some idea of where I am going. I was going to head to the village at the base of the mountain, but since that was your village and has been abandoned for so long I might as well just go past it." Rei stopped when she noticed the somber look on Asuka's face. "I'm sorry I'm still used to saying "I". It really should be we huh?"

"No it's not that. It's just that I've never even seen my village, it was always spoken about like something that was lost and could never be gotten back. And now, since I'm right here. Can we go there? Even if it's only for a moment I want to see where my family is from, where I could have lived, where I will live when we clear the mist."

"Yeah sure thing Asuka. If I can I'll convince demons to purify that area so your town will be free. It seems kind of strange to do that since there are no people, but if you want."

"If it's not something you can do right away don't worry about it. There's no need for me to hold us up there if we're rescuing no one."

"Ok Asuka, if that's what you want." Rei turned back and looked at her map. "This town looks like a good place to go to. It's rather large so there is probably a lot of people. I think that your first town rescue should be a big one, how about you?"

"Yeah sure. What's this town called anyway?"

"Oshu."

"Sounds like a nice place."

"Yeah. Well, lets get going shall we."

"Ok." Rei packed up the map and they both walked off toward their new destination.

Later that day they came across the old village that was Asuka's ancestral home. Despite the hundred years of decay and rot the beauty of the town could still be seen. It was a decent sized town that was built in a perfect circle. The roads went around the city and there were several main roads that went to the center. In the center there was a large building made of stone. It was beautifully decorated with statues of various creatures that must have been important to the people living there. Because of the hundred years with no people there was considerable vegetation growing all over the city. Most of the buildings had plants or trees coming out of them. Despite this Asuka was aw struck at the sight.

"It's as beautiful as the said it was. I had always heard that it was like this."

"But without all the trees growing in the houses."

"Yeah. My home, the town that was built in a perfect circle. It was said that when they built this town the had someone with a demon fly overhead and measure the city so it would be perfect. I can't believe how wonderful it is."

"Look Asuka, it's getting late do you want to stay here tonight?"

"No it's alright we can leave."

"Come on, we wont come back this way for a while so if you want to I'm ok with that."

"Thank you Rei. Do you think you can purify this place?"

"I don't sense any demons, but that doesn't mean anything. If there are any here we'll find out soon. If they're here I will purify this place, ok?"

"Ok." replied Asuka obviously holding back tears. She silently walked of and into one of the buildings. There she lay down on the floor where a bed would have been if there were any left. She started to silently cry and Rei sat down next to her. Rei did nothing for Asuka, she figured letting her be emotional would be the best thing for her tonight. Asuka eventually fell asleep and stopped crying. Rei followed shortly there after, she lay down next to Asuka, deciding that she should be there for her friend.

When Asuka woke up Rei was gone. She walked out of the building and looked around for her, but to no avail. Eventually Asuka started to get worried.

"Rei! Where are you!?"

"I'm right here." called Rei from atop one of the buildings. She hopped down from the roof next to Asuka. "Geez you get worried quick. I was just looking around for any demons. Sorry, there aren't any that will purify this place. That means we need to keep going."

"Yeah ok." Asuka said with a smile.

"She's either over all those emotions or really good at hiding it." thought Rei. "Well lets go."

"Yeah, to Oshu!" Asuka shouted holding her fist up into the sir.

AUTHORS NOTE:

There you go another character introduced. I know it's odd introducing Asuka before Shinji, but I like her more. And who knows, maybe there is a reason for it. Maybe there will be some good Asuka Rei moments, but who knows. When I wrote this I was more worried about my college midterms. The next chapter will be slightly more violent so those who missed it in this chapter, or think the story needs more to begin with, will be happy. I think there should be more sarcasm in this story how about you guys?


	4. Chapter 4

Two days past since Rei and Asuka left the old village and headed toward Oshu. Little happened on those two days, only two attacks by very small groups of demons. Asuka was able to follow Rei's advice and kill the demons, she was getting very good at doing so with her bare hands. As they traveled the weather got progressively cooler. Asuka, who had less to wear than Rei, acted like she wasn't cold at all, but it was starting to get two her. On the morning of the third day the temperature had dropped dramatically and the fire they started could barley keep them warm.

"Damn it's cold!" Asuka said sounding quite upset.

"Yeah just a bit huh?" replied Rei calmly.

"How do you do it Rei? Your always calm and your nowhere near as cold as I am."

"I don't know. I guess I'm calm because I've been through so much. With my training and all I must have learned it. As for the cold I have no idea. The extra layers probably help."

"I wish I had some more clothes, this was fine in the cave but out here, damn."

"Here," Rei said taking off her haori, "take my haori. You need it more than I do."

"No I couldn't then both of us would be cold."

"Better both of us a little cold than one of us dead from it."

Asuka grabber the haori and put it on. It was still warm for Rei's body heat and Asuka smiled when she put it on. She had only argued for politeness sake, but in reality she wanted to wear Rei's haori, she wanted to feel the warmth and kindness of her only friend.

When they started walking that day Asuka was still slightly cold. She crossed her arms across her chest and started to rub her arms. Even with this and the walking Asuka could not warm herself up. She stayed quite miserable for some time. After a while of walking Rei looked at Asuka who was still rubbing her arms.

"No wonder you're still cold." Rei said grabbing Asuka's arms. "Don't rub your arms rub your body, the arms will take care of themselves." Rei moved Asuka's arms to make them wrap around her torso.

"Thank you." Asuka said slightly shocked. She never expected Rei to do something like that. She expected advise to just be verbal not this.

"Come on, lets keep going." Rei said as she turned to walk forward.

That night Rei and Asuka gathered a lot if fire wood and heaped it into a pile. Anything they could find from small sticks to small dead trees they brought over. When they piled it all up Rei summoned her fire demon and had it set the wood ablaze. The flames were taller than them and emitted a huge amount of heat. It was exactly what they needed. Rei and Asuka sat close together to keep each other warm as they eat their evening meal.

"No tell me again Rei, why did we decide to go north in the winter?"

"Because the place I need to go to is inaccessible until spring, so if I got stuck up here due to the snow it would be ok. I'd just spend the winter waiting."

"Doesn't seem very productive."

"May not be, but if I went south I'd have to travel through lots of islands and it would have been more of a pain I think."

"Ok I guess you know more about this than I do." Asuka said and then shook violently.

"That was a large shiver, are you ok Asuka?"

"No I'm freezing! Nothing is making me warmer!" she said angrily.

"Here take off the haori."

"Huh, what?"

"Come on, just for a second."

Asuka reluctantly took the haori off her body leaving only the thin clothes she had. Rei then moved right next to Asuka so they were shoulder to shoulder. She then took the haori and wrapped it as best she could over both of them. Asuka blushed.

"This is the best thing we can do to keep warm. If we share or body heat it should help you a lot." said Rei.

Asuka sat there shocked by what just happened. She could remember the older couples in her cave village doing something similar when they were cold. It always seemed like it had something to do with the fact that they were married. She wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling, but it was strange to her.

Rei looked up at Asuka and noticed the confused look on her face. "This is fine. It's a basic survival technique to share body heat and such. Another one is to sleep under the same blanket to keep even more heat in. This has to be done some times."

The color of Asuka's face was approaching the color of her hair, and, consequently, her body temperature was also rising. Rei could feel the extra heat coming off Asuka's face.

"See it worked." She thought.

A few minutes later, when Asuka had finally gotten control of herself and her blushing she looked at the fire and spoke.

"Wont a fire this large attract demons?"

"There's a possibility of that, but all the fires I've made so far haven't so we should be ok."

"But your still ready for an attack aren't you?"

"Of course. If I relaxed then they would definitely attack and I'd be killed."

"That's an interesting way to look at it."

"It's the safest way."

Both girls sat silent for a moment. For some reason Asuka couldn't think about normal conversation. The thought of being this close to Rei kept plaguing her mind and she wanted to get closer. She tried desperately to get that thought out of her head but to no avail.

"Is everything alright Asuka?" Rei asked concerned.

"Uh, umm, ye-yeah. Of course it is. Thanks. I'm not cold anymore." she said softly.

"Good." Rei said with a smile. "We'd better get some sleep, we have to keep walking tomorrow."

"Yeah."

The next day they continued north and the weather continued to get colder as they went. It seemed as though that, by the time they reached their destination, the land would be completely covered in ice and snow and they would not be able to move because of the cold. Around mid morning Rei and Asuka noticed that they were being followed. They both walked with heightened awareness trying to figure out where the demons were. When they attacked from behind, they were ready.

These demons were unlike anything else thy had seen. They were very much like humans, same basic structure of head arms and body, but they were only the upper half. The demons had no legs and floated through the air. They carried swords that were visibly stained with blood. They had sunken faces and blood thirst eyes.

"This could be bad." said Asuka.

"Maybe. Asuka be careful of those swords, try and get behind them and hit them from the back."

"Right."

They both stood ready. Asuka was in her fighting stance with a confident grin on her face. Rei stood very relaxed and slowly drew her sword from its sheath. When the demons attacked they attacked all at once. They were not coordinated in their attack as the wolf pack that Rei had fought before, instead they just swung their swords trying to make contact and draw blood.

Asuka had no problem avoiding the first attack. She side stepped kicked the demon in the back when it bent backwards from the force Asuka took the same foot she had just kicked with and brought it up and then down on the demons head. It fell and crashed into the ground. The next one attacked and Asuka side stepped again, but this time another one tried to stab her when she moved. Rei, who had just cut down two demons with a single stroke noticed the danger Asuka was in.

"ASUKA WAYCH OUT!" she yelled.

Asuka noticed the sword coming at her and her eyes widened. Just then, as the blade was about to make contact with Asuka, the demons sword kicked away and a sheath fell from the side of it. Rei had thrown her sheath and stopped Asuka's demise. Instinctively Asuka grabbed the sheath before it hit the ground and used it as her weapon, blocking attacks and striking her opponents. After about twenty minutes the last of the demons had been killed, some by Asuka and her bludgeoning and more cut easily by Rei(the last one decapitated, its blood spraying up into the air). Rei shook the blood off her sword and turned to Asuka. Asuka handed back the sheath.

"Thank you Rei." she said. "All though I could have dodged that attack the sheath really helped."

"You welcome Asuka." she replied ignoring the joke. "Asuka your covered in blood. Lets find a stream and clean up."

Asuka looked at herself. She had not realized that all that blood had gotten on her. She looked up at Rei. "Yeah I'm sorry about the sheath, it has more blood on it that I do." Asuka paused for a moment. "Rei, you don't have any blood on you, how did you do that?"

"I don't know." Rei said calmly. In her mind she figured that the level of skill she had would be too high for something like that to happen. She knew that Kenji would never have gotten blood on himself either. "Come on lets go."

The walked and looked for a stream. It was late in the afternoon and they found nothing. Apparently they would have to stay blood soaked for a while.

"Damn, why isn't there some water around here? The smell of all this blood id starting to get to me."

"I know it's bad Asuka, but there's nothing we can do."

"Do we at least have some food, that will make me feel better."

"Yeah, but if we eat know we have to keep walking when we're done, ok?"

"Sure."

They sat and ate what was left of their food. They would have to find more soon. Asuka calmed down considerably during the meal. The thought of being covered in blood left and she was just happy to be sitting down with Rei. Even though she had said she would help clear the mist Asuka just wanted to be with her only friend and the only person she had spoken to in years. She was so happy Rei had come to the cave and that she found her. Asuka couldn't stop thinking about how happy Rei made her feel, it was a little strange.

When they finished they continued walking just as Rei had said they would. When night fell they found a spot to sleep for the night, but that plan was interrupted before they could find any firewood. As they began to prepare their resting place there was a loud sound from out in the forest. The sound shook the ground and startled wake the birds sleeping in the trees. Rei and Asuka turned toward the sound.

"What was that?" asked Asuka with slight concern in her voice.

"I don't know." replied Rei.

Just then a tree was knocked over just a few meters away. From the trees emerged a large demon, roughly twice the size of a human. It was very muscular and covered in black hair. Its eyes glowed a bright yellow and its fangs dripped with saliva. It stood in front of Rei and Asuka growling and its large powerful hands scraped the ground. Moments later another demon of the same type emerged from the trees.

"Holy shit." Asuka said calmly, her brain stunned by fear.

"Asuka," Rei said firmly, "stay back understood?"

"Y-yeah."

Rei slowly drew her sword and held it down at her side. This gesture caused the two demons to register Rei as their target. This was fine, Rei would rather fight two large monsters on her own than have to also worry about Asuka getting hurt. Waving her left hand in front of her Rei summoned her fire demon. It stood out in front of her ready for orders. She pointed her sword at on of the demons and hers charged at it. As it got closed her demon glowed red and burst into flames. It flew through the air and impacted on the demons face, it fell down onto its back. The second demon tried to crush Rei with one of its powerful hands, but Rei stepped back to avoid it. Immediately she jumped up at the demons head. Going past it she severed the demons neck, its blood spraying out in large, black masses. The first demon stood back up and attacked Rei as she landed. Without hesitation she swung her sword and severed the arm of the demon at the wrist. The demon cried out in pain. She again jumped up at the demons head, but this time she thrust her sword into its throat. Both demons were dead.

Asuka stood silent, no longer horrified by Rei's ruthlessness in battle. Rei had told her the first time they fought together that this was the only way to stop the evil demons. Asuka had embraced this, but the way Rei did it was simply amazing. There was something horrifying and amazing in the way Rei never missed a step and would cut anything that tried to hurt them maliciously. The most amazing part was how Rei felt afterward, she never liked killing, it was just something she had to do. Asuka's thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Rei running toward her.

"Come on we have to move." Rei said as she ran.

"Ok." Asuka quickly replied and turned to run away. After a few moments of running Asuka asked, "Why are we running, you killed both of them?"

"Because," Rei answered, "There are more."

Asuka gasped and then realized that Rei still held her sword in her hand. Soon after a loud booming sound came from behind them and something screamed as if it was angry, and judging by the sound that it produced, it was very large.

"That's another one of those things huh?"

"Yeah, now keep running."

After an hour of running Rei and Asuka reached a field it was there Rei stopped.

"What is it?" Asuka said worriedly.

"We're trapped."

"What!?"

"My god your perceptive." said a voice from the shadows.

"Who are you?" said Asuka pointing at the figure that slowly emerged.

"My my didn't you tell this girl anything? I hate that question of who I am. My name was lost long ago. Back when I gave up being human and embraced the mist and this demon. Back when I became immortal."

"Hachi." Rei said calmly.

"Hachi?"

"I'm so glad you remembered me. After are last encounter I bet you wondered when you'd see me again."

"What exactly is it that you want?"

"To be completely honest the boss told me to play with you for a while and then kill you before you reach Oshu. I just think it's more fun to torture you if you know it's me."

"Why doesn't he want us getting to Oshu?" asked Asuka.

"Don't know, didn't ask, and really, I don't care. That skill you demonstrated in our last encounter interested me Shinpishugisha. I always kill things that interest me."

Rei and Asuka stood in fighting stances and readied themselves for an attack from Hachi. Both their eyes narrowed as they focused on their opponent.

"Oh my your frightening." Hachi said with a smile. "Don't worry your not fighting me, your fighting my friends." He raised his right hand and turned it palm up. The he snapped his fingers. Summoned by the noise many demons materialized themselves from the ground. They were tall and thin standing on four legs. Their heads were similar to that of bats and they had wings coming of the fore part of their front legs. Rei noticed that the wings were sharp like swords. Their bodies were crystal.

Rei closed her eyes and relaxed, when she opened then they were no longer narrowed as before, but relaxed and easy.

"Ah I see, you think you will be able to purify them. Back many thousands of years ago there were a lot more of your kind, the demon whisperer. To command demons the need only look at them. You have to kill them, you much like a child in that way." Hachi snapped his fingers again and the demons took flight.

The demons soared into the air and flew around overhead. Rei and Asuka shifted their stances to be able to defend from above. They were each attacked by a single demon. Asuka had no problem avoiding the initial attack of the demon as it swooped down and attack with its fangs. It became slightly more difficult, however, when it attacked with its wings. All thought the wings stuck straight off the arms of the demon it was able to change the angle of them and rotate them on its body, spinning them as an attack. Asuka could still dodge the demon, but counter attacking was a challenge. She was only able to strike back once.

After Asuka's counter, which was a kick to the head of the demon, another one swooped down and attacked. Now Asuka could not attack at all. It took everything she had to avoid being hit. Rei had similar problems except she was fighting three demons and was able to attack. Unfortunately for her most of the were blocked by the demons blades. Four blades swung at Asuka, six at Rei and one at the demons. The dance of blades continued for over an hour.

Hachi stood back and laughed while Rei and Asuka fought. Several more demons still flew overhead and the five that were attacking were too much for them. Hachi was having the time of his life.

"This is great, you can't stop them. There's still many more to go and I can keep this up all…"

He was interrupted by the spray of blood from two of the demons. Rei had avoided one and cut up across the demons body. Asuka had set up the demons to defeat themselves. She moved one onto one side and the other to the opposite side. When one attacked she ducked so one demon cut the other, its blood flowing across her back. The remaining demons flew down from the sky, three attacked Asuka and two attacked Rei.

Rei turned and threw one of her daggers at the demons as they flew at her. The dagger impaled the beast in the eye and it fell down to the ground. Quickly she turned to see three demons flying at Asuka and one already attacking. She swung up her hand and summoned the snake demon. Instead of forming a bridge like before it came out on its side and formed a wall in front of Asuka stopping the immediate charge of the demons. Rei deciding that she needed to help Asuka ended her fight then.

From where she was Rei spun around and kicked a demon using the momentum from the spin. While continuing the spin she cut that demon splitting the skull. She then grabbed the sword with her left hand and jumped, thrusting the sword into the demons underbelly as it was almost down for its attack. The last demon attacking her came in from behind. Rei turned the sword behind her and blocked the attack without looking. She turned herself around and cut the demon three times; once severing the arm, another at the throat, and the last at the base of its wing. Rei grabbed that severed wing and hurled it toward one of the demons fighting Asuka. The wing tore threw its body and stuck it into the ground.

Asuka now only had three demons attacking her. This time with more blades attacking her it was even more difficult to dodge, but she was starting to get used to the movements, After avoiding a slice to the neck by only a fraction of an inch she jumped into the air and kicked that demon in the face. At the same time she turned and punched another demon. The third tried to attack while she was in midair, but at the last moment she was able to bring her leg back in from the kick and attack again, striking that demon. When she landed she finished one demon by kicking it on the top of the head and into the ground, breaking the skull. The next was stopped by a series of hand strikes to its body breaking several bones. The last tried to cut her from behind and was instead stabbed by Rei who had quickly run over to stop it.

Asuka turned realizing that Rei had again saved her. Than that demon's body broke apart and its spirit stayed in its place. It had been purified by Rei who had killed it purely to save a friend. As its spirit melded into Rei she softly spoke the words, "thank you". Hachi moved forward from where he was standing.

"Well this is interesting. Before at the castle you were interesting, but now you are truly interesting. You'll do anything to protect her wont you?"

Hachi vanished and landed behind Asuka. Grabbing Asuka he moved with speed similar to Rei's perfect defense from their first meeting. The difference was, instead of a steady circle it was random. Images of Hachi holding Asuka appeared all over the field. Rei looked around and the rapidly moving Hachi with her eyes still relaxed like before.

"Bad move." she said calmly. Instantly Rei vanished and reappeared with Asuka in her arms.

Hachi stopped his movement and was shocked. Rei calmly sat Asuka down and had her move away.

"How did you do that?" Hachi asked angrily.

"You don't get to know. You tried to harm my friend, bad idea." Rei formed the same circle around Hachi as before. The complete circle of images facing Hachi.

Hachi laughed, "This didn't work before why would it work know?"

Then a line of Rei's appeared across the top of the circle from one side to the other. Another line appeared from one spot to another. This continued until all the space from the ground up, in a dome shape, was covered in Rei images. Asuka stood back amazed at what her friend was doing.

"My god, this is because, he harmed me?"

"What the hell is this!?" roared Hachi.

"This is my ultimate entrapment technique. By encircling you in this impervious defense and then expanding it you are unable to pass and you simply await my decision to end your life. There are three good points to this for you; one I only just know learned this technique so you are the first to experience it, two you wont feel any pain, your death will be instant."

Without waiting for anything else Hachi tried to escape from his prison. Ah ran at the side of the circle and attacked in an attempt to get out. His attack was stopped by Rei's sword, there was no alteration with the images around him. He tried several more time to get free jumping and running, moving at the speed he had grabbed Asuka with, but to no avail.

"And three," Rei voice said in a calm voice that cooled blood, "there is a tiny moment that this attack can be stopped, if your as fast as you say than you'll see it, but your not."

With the finishing of her sentence the images of Rei vanished and the only thing that remained was a single Rei and Hachi, both of whom stood motionless. Rei swung her sword and placed it back into its sheath. With the click of the blade finishing its entry three cuts opened up on Hachi, one on his left between the pelvis and the ribs, the next at his liver on his right, and the last on his neck splitting the corotid artery. Blood sprayed from the wounds and covered the ground. The human that was incased in the demon disintegrated as if it had been dead for hundreds of years and the demons shell collapsed. Rei turned to the heap that was Hachi and put her hands together in a prayed position.

"Your soul was lost for so long, I hope you find something in you next life."

"Rei." said Asuka like a small child from aside.

"Oh Asuka, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I had no idea you could do that. It was scary."

"I just learned I could do that now. The fact that he was going to hurt you just to hurt me more was more than I wanted to have happen. I found some new power within me and I could do that. I think the energy from these demons I absorb might have something to with it."

"You did something that amazing, that horrifying, because he tried to hurt me?"

"Asuka, I know you're a good fighter, but these demons are strong, and he was even stronger. Without a weapon and without proper training it's extremely dangerous. Since I brought you into this I have to make sure you're ok. I don't want to be responsible for your death."

"Rei." Asuka said calmly, the deep feeling for her slowly returning as the ferocity faded.

The sun started to rise and light slowly peaked threw the trees from over the mountains. The sky glowed a brilliant red resembling very much the scene that was at their feet. It was almost like the planet itself was bleeding that day.

"Come on," said Rei trying to get a smile on her face, "Lets get out of here."

"Yeah." said Asuka who happily followed.

After a while of walking in silence Asuka slowly tried to make herself speak. After a moment of trying what she had wanted, had needed to say finally came out.

"Rei. I wanted to say thank you. You do so much for me and I don't do enough. I have to stop thinking like I did in the cave. From now on I wont be frightened by what you do. I'll fight too, I'll kill to, and as soon as we can we're getting me a weapon. I'm not as strong as you and I don't think I ever will be, but I'll get strong enough so I stop freezing up when I see you kill. I'll gain my resolve."

"Thank you Asuka for saying that. I hated scaring you. And I was hoping you weren't thinking that you were holding me back or that you were a burden because your not. A friend can never be a burden."

"Me a burden, I'm the great Asuka, the girl who survived whatever killed the rest of her clan. You should be overly happy to be traveling with me."

Rei smiled and laughed, the first real smile and laugh they had had in a while. "All right lets keep going. I know you must be tired, but we should probably try and get us some food. Three has to be animal life around here that we can eat."

"Yeah. Let me help, give me one of you knives, I'll fasten it into a tree branch and I can use it as a spear. It will only be temporary, but it will help me hunt and I might be able to fight with it."

"Knowing you you'll break it within the first hour, but ok."

To get a sturdy enough branch for Asuka to use as a weapon Rei Cut a branch from a living tree. With this it would not be decaying and would a slight bit of playability to reduce the chances of breaking. After Rei cut the branch she thanked the tree silently. Using the knife, that would become the spear, Rei split one end of the branch. She then took the blade of the knife out of the handle and lodged it in the opening. By removing the wrapping from the handle of the knife and wrapping it around the branch where the knife was inserted a crude weapon was made. Asuka took her weapon and swung it around with joy. After performing a few swings and thrust she stood the spear next her and smiled.

"Yeah, now lets get us some food." Asuka said.

The two girls carefully walked through the forest trying to find animal tracks. Asuka followed Rei's lead since she had a better idea of what she was doing. They found several sets of tracks but were unable to find any of the creatures they belonged to. All the animals in the forest seemed to be hiding from them. Some time in the afternoon the two girls had grown tired of searching for food. They stopped and contemplated why there efforts yielded nothing.

"I know you can have bad days, but this is crazy." said Asuka. "I've done this before and you're an expert, why cant we find anything?"

"I'm not sure. We're not making enough sound for anything to notice us this early. What else could it be?" Rei went instantly quiet.

'What's the matter?" asked Asuka. "Do you know what the problem is?"

"Yeah I do. Your covered in blood."

Asuka looked at herself and she was indeed covered in blood from several demons. "You mean that they can smell it and are running away?"

"Looks that way yeah. I guess we have to live on vegetables for a while."

"Your so calm. We can't survive on just vegetables for too long, we need better energy if we keep getting in fights." I know but right now there isn't much we can do about it. We have to keep going on that. Maybe we'll get lucky and come across something that we can catch."

"Sure. That'll happen. Some animal is going to be stupid enough to stand in front of us and wait to be killed."

"It could happen, you never know."

"Uh-huh."

The two girls turned and resumed their walk toward their destination. While walking Asuka's mind was focused on finding something to eat weather it be a plant or animal. Rei on the other hand was thinking about Hachi.

"He said he was the weakest." Rei said to herself. "That means there are seven others above him and then that Shinigami. I have a feeling that they are behind all this. If so we'll have to fight them. This could be bad."

Later that day, as the sun began to set, Asuka stopped and dropped to her knees.

"I'm done. Can we rest now please. No food, no sleep and fighting all those annoying things, I'm exhausted."

"Sure Asuka." Rei said with a slight giggle. "This isn't a bad place either. That's pretty convenient."

"I waited until now to stop because it was a good place. I wanted to stop two hours ago."

Rei laughed out loud at this. The idea that, even thought she was terribly tired and hungry, Asuka waited for a good location to stop was funny to her. Asuka looked up at her friend and laughed as well. Their laughter continued for quite a while, it was a good release after all that had happened. They started a fire and sat down against a tree. Asuka did not sit up against Rei instead she looked slightly upset.

"Is something wrong Asuka?" Rei asked when she noticed the look on her face.

"No. It's just, I got blood all over the haori you gave me. It's ruined, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Rei replied. "It wasn't important or anything. I found it at Fuyutsuki castle and took it. It has no significant value to me other than a warm coat, so it's no big deal if its stained."

With this a smile came across Asuka's face. She felt relieved that she had not destroyed something important to her friend.

"Now it you had gotten blood all over my mothers necklace than I might be mad." Rei grabbed her necklace and lifted it off of her chest to look at it. The necklace was a perfect circle only about three centimeters in diameter. It had an intricate design of lines and circles all incased in two outer circles. Between those two lines were many small symbols that Rei did not recognize but knew meant something. She had no idea if this necklace was anything more than a piece of jewelry or not, but she treasured it as the only thing she had from her mother, other than her blood.

"That's a very beautiful necklace." Asuka said seeing the smile it gave Rei.

"Thank you." Rei said placing it back on her chest. "We should et some sleep, we still have a lot of traveling to do."

"Right."

Both girls closed their eyes and feel asleep.

The next several days were as disappointing as the last. Rei and Asuka could catch no food and had to live on the small amounts of edible plants they could find on bushes and trees. Even more difficult was, on the third day, snow started to fall. It continued to snow all day and it covered up many of the plants they were using. By the end of the third day the snow was piled up half way up their shins and it slowed their pace considerably, neither had ever walked I so much snow. With frozen feet they had to lay out something for them to sleep on. Unfortunately the only thing they had was the blood stained haori so they sat together on the for the night. The tree they slept under provided little shelter from the now so Rei summoned the snake demon and tried to make a barrier from the snow. It worked a little.

For two days they trekked through the ever increasing snow. Their clothes were drenched from all the snow and every time they stopped to eat they lit a large fire in an attempt to dry off and warm up. Asuka and Rei huddled together like children at night to keep as warm as possible. Asuka would shake violently from the cold while Rei stayed relatively fine. The only reason she could come up with is that the fire demon inside her was keeping her warm. Rei would hold Asuka as tight as possible like a concerned mother and Asuka would burry herself in Rei's chest, both trying to maximize the amount of heat shared between them.

On the third day Asuka was almost too cold to move. She tried her best but the cold was making her clumsy and she fell down several times into the snow. After the second fall Rei came over and help Asuka up. She then motioned to have Asuka climb on her back. Rei carried Asuka the rest of the day. Asuka clung to Rei and shook like a leaf. Rei was very upset that there was so little that she could do for her.

Mid way through the next day Rei was carrying Asuka and they reached a ravine. On the other side Rei could just make out buildings in the distance. They were close to their destination, they only had to cross the ravine and they would be close enough to celebrate. Rei summoned the bat demon that she gained from the fight with Hachi. IT grabbed her shoulders and carried both her and Asuka across the ravine. Asuka was barley conscious her energy being taken away by the cold.

"Don't worry Asuka," Rei said when they landed, "we're almost there. We'll get you warm soon."

Rei continued to walk without stopping well into the night. She carried Asuka with the only intent to make it to shelter and warm her up to prevent her death. She cared nothing for her hunger or fatigue, Asuka's wellbeing was all that mattered.

Some time in the early hours of the morning Rei and Asuka arrived at Oshu and were surprised at what they saw. Around Oshu there was no mist. At six points around the village there stood giant windmills that spun and blew the mist away. The village looked as thought it was alive and well while all around them was horror. This sight assured Rei that she would be able to find Asuka the help she needed.

AUTHOR NOTE: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tired to bring out some vulnerability in Asuka while still keeping a little of her self assured attitude. I hope the relationship building was alright this was my first attempt at it. And for those of you that wanted some action, too bad none yet, or maybe at all. I'll make you wait to see what happens between these two. I also hope there was enough description in the fights for you all, again I'm new at that. Next chapter will take place almost entirely in Oshu, the town that freed itself from the mist. Find out the mystery behind this sanctuary lost in the cursed earth.


	5. Chapter 5

In a dark room was a large table lined with nine chairs, four on each side and one at the head. All the chairs were full except one. It was empty and this seemed to be the topic of discussion.

"Hachi is dead." said a booming voice.

"Yes are numbers have been reduced," said another softer voice, "that makes you the weakest now."

"Shut your mouth!" replied the booming voice. "I don't care what my rank is now, I'm still a lot stronger than that weakling."

"Someone that weak barely deserved to be in our ranks to begin with." replied a female voice.

"Was he really weak?" asked a monotone voice. "Or was his opponent really that strong?"

"Are you saying it wasn't Hachi's cocky attitude that got him killed?" asked the female voice.

"His attitude may have had something to do with it, but it also highly likely that the enemy was just too strong for him." replied the soft voice.

"Damn it all," said the booming voice, "I thought all the Shinpishugisha were dead. Where the hell did this girls come from?"

"You can't be sure everything is dead unless you see it killed yourself." said a bored voice. "We only started the extermination and then looked back to see nothing, a few must have hidden away."

"So what do you think about this girl then?" asked the monotone voice.

"I think she's interesting and I really don't care what you do about her, besides it's not up to me. What shall we do, Shinigami-sama?"

"Let's play with her a little more." he replied. "We can torment her more in Oshu."

"Oshu?" asked the soft voice. "We can't summon demons in there and our power will be slightly weakened. Is it wise to attack there?"

"Of course." said Shinigami. "Shi, Nana go play with the girl in Oshu and while your there, bring it into the mist."

"Yes Shinigami." said the two in unison and then they vanished.

"Go, Roku." said Shinigami.

"Yes." they replied.

"I don't intend them to kill the girl there. When they are done taking Oshu you two will destroy the girl, understood?"

"Of course." they replied.

Back in Oshu Rei hurried to the closest building in order to obtain help for Asuka. The first building she stopped at was in front of one of the windmills and was labeled and inn. While still holding on to Asuka, Rei knocked loudly on the door and called for someone to answer.

"Hello, anyone? Please open up my friend needs help."

"Yeah yeah," a tired sounding voice said from within, "just hold on." The door opened. "What is it that you want?" said the girl that opened the door. When she saw Rei carrying Asuka the girl was startled wake and was now taking the early disturbance seriously. "Oh my god, what happened?"

"My friend is freezing and has been for days. Please help her."

"Of course. Bring her inside."

Rei followed the girl inside the inn and through the back. There was a large hot spring with a high fence splitting it in half.

"Her clothes are soaked, take them off and we'll get her into the water. I'll wake up the others then ok."

"Right. Thank you." Rei set Asuka down and proceeded to remove her clothes. Without caring she tossed the on the ground reveling her cold but beautiful body, that, luckily was not greatly damaged from either the fights or the cold. Rei and the girl gently lowered Asuka into the hot spring up to her neck.

"Make sure she doesn't slip under the water. I'll get some more help." the girl said and then ran off. Moments later the girl returned with an older woman and two other girls. The youngest girl took the discarded clothes away and the other girl, who was older than the first one they met, had some clean ones in her arms.

"What happened her?" asked the woman. "It look like she was out in the snow for a week, but that doesn't make sense. No one travels around out of town. Who are you two anyway? I don't recognize you."

Rei turned and bowed to the woman, "I am Ayanami Rei and this is my friend Asuka. We are travelers. Several days ago Asuka became ill while walking in the snow and then she finally collapsed. I carried her here to receive help."

"Well Rei, I'm not sure how you two are traveling around out there, but I'll ask that later. I'm Misato and I run this inn. The girl that answered your cry for help was Hikari and the other two were her sisters. Since you're here we'll give you a place to sleep and we'll treat Asuka. But, I want you to explain how and why you two are walking around out in the mist, ok?"

"Of course, I have some questions as well. I think we should save all that until Asuka is better."

"Good idea."

After an hour Asuka was taken out of the hot spring and redressed. She was then carried to a bed and laid down under some blankets. The sun was starting to rise and the rest of the town would start to wake soon and they would be curious as to why the inn was receiving business.

Rei was seated at a table with Misato and Hikari. Hikari was a girl about Rei's age. She was the same height and had black hair that was tied into two strands. Misato was an older woman probably around thirsty. She had long purple hair and an enormous chest. Hikari seemed to be much more serious than Misato, she looked worried about what was going on while Misato looked tired and carefree. After a few moments of silence Misato finally spoke.

"So Rei I want to ask you…"

"How is Asuka doing?" Rei interjected.

"She's a little better than when you brought her in. She has a slight fever and is still shivering a little. We've sent for a medical doctor and are already getting together some herbs that might help. As soon as we know what we can do to help her we will."

"Thank you."

"Now Rei I have some questions for you."

"Like what we were doing out in the mist and who we are, besides our names correct?"

"Yes exactly."

"I'm from a village to the south and Asuka is from the mountain just a little was south of here. We're traveling to defeat the mist and bring peace back into the world."

"That's amazing." said Hikari.

"Sounds like a load of crap to me." said Misato. "How can two girls stop something that's been plaguing the world for a hundred years?"

"Well, I'm, Shinpishugisha." said Rei cautiously.

"What really? I thought they were all dead."

"Apparently not" replied Rei.

"Miss Misato," called one of Hikaris' sisters, "the doctor is here."

"Thank you."

The doctor walked in very slowly. He was an old man who was quite hunched over and walked with a cane. "Where is this patient I've heard so much about?" he asked with interest.

"She's in the next room sleeping. Follow me doctor."

Misato, Rei Hikari and the doctor walked into the next room to see Asuka asleep on her futon. The doctor slowly walked over to her to begin his examination. He felt under her jaw and the sides of her neck. While holding the wrist he looked up and down Asuka's arms. He pushed lightly on several spots on her abdomen and then turned her half way over and looked at her back. When he laid her back down and covered her back up with the blanket he took out a piece of paper and a brush. After writing a few thing on the paper he handed it to Hikari who took off.

"I have a few questions." said the doctor."

"Yes, what is it?" replied Rei.

"What have you two been doing lately and where is her wound?"

"We've been traveling and fighting demons and what wound are you talking about"

"You've been fighting demons? Interesting I didn't think humans could win against them on their own."

She's not human she's Shinpishugisha." replied Misato.

"Also interesting." said the doctor. "And the wound that caused all that blood I was told about. Her clothes were covered in it right?"

"Again that was demons blood." replied Rei.

"Ok, than you have nothing to worry about. She has an infection. Being out in the cold for an extended period caused her body to weaken, she got sick and got worse by staying out in the cold. We'll give her some herbal teas and when she is more conscious, some decent food. I'm guessing you haven't eaten anything but plants for a while."

"Correct, we've had no meat for quite some time."

"Well then, if the girl has a strong enough will than she'll live."

"Thank you." Rei said and then bowed.

They waited for the doctor to leave the room before speaking. Misato walked up to Rei and placed her hand on her shoulder. As she was about to speak Rei turned and spoke.

"I guess you want to know about us huh? It only makes sense, two strangers come from the mist, which should be impossible, one is fine and the other is close to death, covered in blood that's not hers. I'd ask a lot of questions too. Lets sit and I'll tell you everything."

"Ok Rei sure."

Misato and Rei moved to another room and Rei explained the situation. She told of everything that had happened in enough detail so that she would be believed, but not enough to scare her host. After the long, yet still condensed, story and several cups of tea, Misato and Rei sat quietly.

"So, that's what you two have been through. It makes sense now how'd Asuka would get so sick and how you might be fine. That settles it then, you two will just have to stay here for the time being."

"Are you sure, I don't want to trouble you more than we already have?"

"No it's fine. We're an inn after all. If you went somewhere else you'd be troubling them more. And besides it will give my staff and I something to do."

"Thank you very much." Rei said with a slight bow of the head.

"Now hold on don't take this the wrong way, you still have to pay for your stay, it will just be less. Since you probably don't have money I'll just find some work around town for you to do. Ok?"

"Of course, anything."

In the other room Hikari was attempting to administer another cup of herbal remedy to Asuka when she woke up. Even though Asuka was awake she was very weak and could not move very much. She slowly opened her eyes and was confused at what she saw.

"Uh, where am I? Who are you and where's Rei?" Asuka tried to sit up but fell back down onto her futon.

"Don't try to move yet your too weak. Your in at the inn in Oshu. I'm Hikari and Rei's in the other room. You got very sick and Rei carried you here. I'm assisting with your recovery."

Asuka looked at this girl intently for a few moments. "Hikari huh? You seem nice, we should be friends."

"Friends? But we don't know each other at all. Wouldn't it be a little strange to already call each other friend?"

"Rei trusts you with my care and you sound like a nice person. What else do I need to call you a friend. And besides, I only have one friend, it'd be nice to have more."

"Sure, ok Asuka, we're friends then."

"Great. What's that?" Asuka asked motioning at the tea.

"It's a special tea that's going to help you get better."

"Alright then let me drink it already."

Hikari laughed. "You sound like your getting back to your old self. Or at least getting some strength back."

"I'm the great Asuka, I wont die so easily."

"I'm glad my new friend is so strong."

Asuka drank her tea and she and Hikari talked for a while. Asuka eventually went back to sleep and Hikari went into the other room where Misato and Rei were talking.

"Good news, Asuka was awake and talking. She sounds like she is going to be fine."

"Can I see her?" asked Rei.

"She's asleep again, but the instant she wakes back up I'll come get you, ok?"

"Ok, thank you."

"My god stop thanking us already." said Misato. "Your taking things way to seriously. There's no way in hell that we would refuse to care for another human." Misato paused for a moment after saying that. "And we'd help you too if you needed it."

"Don't worry about it. I knew what you meant. Anyway I'd like to pay for our stay her as soon as I can, so when there is anything you'd like me to do just say so."

"Actually there is something I've been meaning to do. On the other side of town there lives a family of doctors and they have something for me. Could you go and get it? They'd be happy to meet you."

"Sure, but where.."

"You can't miss is, it kind of stands out."

"Ok I'll go then." Rei said as she turned to leave the inn.

"Um Rei," Misato said stopping her, "you may want to leave the sword her. You'll scare the towns people."

"I'm sorry, but I can't leave this sword here, it's very important."

"Ok, just don't give anyone the wrong impression ok."

"Of course."

Rei left the inn and walked to the other side of town. Oshu was a decent sized town about three times the size of her village. As she walked though the streets the villagers looked at her and were frightened by the clothes and sword. As far as they could tell she was a soldier for the old days. After many scared looks and several mother protecting their children Rei reached her destination.

"Misato was right, this place really stands out." Rei said as she looked upon the building.

The building was several stories high and made completely of metal. There were several odd structures coming from the building that were shaped like pipes. The low sound that was emitted by the building was slightly annoying until Rei tuned it out. When she walked up t the door it was opened before she could knock or call.

"Welcome stranger." said the boy who opened the door. "You must be her for Misato's package. I never thought she send a soldier for it."

"I'm not a soldier, I'm a traveler."

"Oh whatever. Please com in come in."

Rei followed the boy's command and entered the building. The boy was about her height and age. He had short black hair and blue eyes. He seemed very jovial like he had just received good news. He led her to a stair case and they walked up to the third floor. There was one room on that floor that contained a large table and a book shelf. On the shelf was a small package. The boy walked over and grabbed the package.

"Honestly I don't know why my father left this here, he knew someone would come for it and he still left it up here. Does that seem odd to you?"

"Uh, umm, slightly." Rei responded a little confused.

"Oh good I thought I was the only one. Most people refuse to say bad things about my father because they think it would be rude after all the great things he's done. I really don't see the problem, if someone messes up you tell them."

"There is a certain amount of respect you should give you elders, especially if they have done great things."

"You like him too huh? I mean, I like him, but I don't think he's as great as everyone else thinks he is. He deserves to be called for his mishaps. It will keep him human. I'm Shinji by the way."

"I'm Rei."

Shinji looked closely at Rei. "Blue hair and red eyes. You know, I think you should meet with my father, he'd have some interesting things to talk with you about. Would you like to come back later? I'll be there too so your not alone with that guy."

"Uh, sure let me just bring this package back to Misato first ok?"

"Sure no problem. The door will be open, just walk in and yell."

"Right, ok." Rei said and then excused herself from the room.

On her way back to the inn Rei thought a lot about what had happened. That boy she just met, Shinji, was quite strange She wondered why he wanted her to come back and talk to his father. He mentioned her hair and eyes, he must have known she was Shinpishugisha. She was slightly worried about what would happen. When she arrived at the inn she was greeted happily by Misato.

"Oh good you are back with my package. Thank you."

"Your welcome. If I my ask, what is it?"

"It's a bottle of sake that's all."

"Why was is packaged up like that?"

"Because the store wont sell it to me anymore so I asked them to get it. I had them package it up so whoever went and got it wouldn't be walking around town with sake and get questioned."

"Should you not be drinking?"

"Oh it's fine. They said I get rowdy when I drink, but I just have fun is all. I don't do anything stupid or get in trouble I just keep up the neighbors."

"Umm, ok." Rei said slightly worried about what she had just done. "Has Asuka woken back up yet?"

"No she's still sleeping."

"Ok. Shinji said he had something he wanted to ask me about so I'm headed back over there. Is that ok?"

"Sure I'll come up with more errands for you later. Oh but be careful over there ok Rei." Misato said in a very serious tone. "Bad things usually happen there."

"Like what?"

"Oh usually you have some really bad food and have to listen to the doctor talk for hours in a very boring way, but as long as you stay with Shinji you'll be fine."

"Right." said Rei and she left the inn.

When Rei arrived at Shinji's she was starting to worry about this village. Everyone here was very strange and she wondered how long they would be stuck here, As soon as Asuka was healthy she wanted to leave so they could go to a place that actually needed help. She entered Shinji's house and called for him.

"Um Shinji? Are you there? It's me Rei, I came back like you asked."

Out of nowhere Shinji appeared behind her. "Thank you for coming back so soon." He said. "Now please come with me, we must meet with my father. We all have some very interesting things to talk about." Shinji walked toward the back of the building. When he arrived he pulled a switch on the wall and it rotated revealing a stair case. "This way." he motioned to Rei.

Rei followed, amazed by the hidden passage. As the walked down the staircase Rei noticed that Shinji had perfect posture. His back was completely straight and he looked forward despite walking down stairs. His hands were behind his back, right hand clutched in the left. He made almost no sound as he stepped just like when he appeared behind her. Rei started to wonder how and why he could do that. Rei's attention shifted slightly when she noticed that it was getting hotter as they descended.

"Excuse me Shinji. Why is it getting hot down here?"

"You'll see. But if you want me to ruin the surprise I can." Shinji looked back at Rei. "Oh good. I'll just say that is has to do with the windmills and leave it at that."

As they descended further Rei noticed a red glow coming from below them. Then she saw what looked like a river of thick red water. IT was extremely hot and looked like it went all around the village. She saw several metal polls and many other metal objects coming from the river and up into the rock above.

"What is this?" Rei asked amazed.

"This is the geothermal powerhouse of Oshu. This lava circulates around underneath us and heats the hot springs. It also provides power for the wind mills and keeps the mist back. It's also where my father does his research. You'll get used to the heat soon." Shinji stood still for a moment. "Be very careful not to touch anything or bother any of the workers down here ok."

"Ok."

Rei and Shinji walked over the lava river and onto the center platform where everyone was working. Rei tried not to stare too much at the various containers and tubes that were being experimented with and studied. Rei noticed a slight smile on Shinji's face as they walked toward his father. Whatever was being done down here obviously had him interested. She started to become very curious about it.

After walking what seemed like half way across Oshu they found a man standing in front of a tablet talking to three people in white haori. "Father," said Shinji, "I brought someone you might like to meet."

"Please excuse me." he said to the workers. "I'm busy Shinji what is it?"

"Always so cold with me, that's not nice. The person I brought has blue hair and red eyes."

The man turned around and looked directly at Rei. "Shinpishugisha, amazing, they still exist."

"She might be able to help you with your project."

"Excuse me, I don't want to sound rude, but could you stop talking about me like I'm not her?"

"Your right that was rude of us." replied the man. "My name is Gendo and I am the head researcher her in Oshu."

"I'm Rei. Shinji said you would be interested in speaking with me?"

"Of course. Shinji I'm very pleased that you convinced this girl to come here."

"Your welcome father." he said with a small head nod.

"What a boy, he doesn't even show me proper respect."

"How about we speak about what you wanted to." said Rei trying to avoid any tension between father and son.

"Good idea." said Gendo. He turned and looked at the large tablet. "This here is an ancient tablet full of great information. It tells of humans, Shinpishugisha and demons. It took a very long time to translate it. Apparently the Shinpishugisha had their very own language that was not shared often with humans. Do you know what it says Rei?"

Rei looked at the tablet. "I haven't the slightest idea."

"What a shame." said Gendo. "It tells of how, when the gods created the world there were only animals and demons. Eventually the gods decided that they wanted other creatures to rule over the world and they created humans. Some gods and spirits, who are forbidden to ever go down to the world decided to give up their status and live here. The surrendered their immortality and limitless power to have short lives on this beautiful planet. They retained a small amount of power and they became known as Shinpishugisha. So Rei, basically that means you are a descendant of a fallen god."

Rei was stunned and amazed at what she was hearing. She never heard anything like this before in her life. She never imagined that someone would know the origin of her race and why they had power. She was shocked and very interested by this news.

"It also says that since humans where now physically inferior to all the other races on the earth the gods created a second class of demons that would help them. These demons gave them powers to do all sorts of thing from flying to superhuman strength and various other powers. The Shinpishugisha, who gave up their god status to walk the earth as humans tried to use these demons as well but were unable. While wearing a demon humans and Shinpishugisha were equal. That's when the Shinpishugisha had an idea."

"Which was?" asked Rei wary of the answer.

"They decided to find out why they could not use the demons. They began a series of experiments that tried to identify what was rejecting them. The tested demons and Shinpishugisha to see which was stopping the merger. Eventually, after years of testing they tried a new experiment. The decided to create their own demons, ones that would work with them to increase their power. They also tried to manufacture new demons so they could manipulate the powers that each one gave. Some of that project was done here. All of these test tubes are actually scraps of demons that were failed experiments. We are restarting these test to see if we can create demons how we want them."

"What?" exclaimed Rei. "That's insane and there's no point. What's the use in creating a demon that you can use because of the mist? What purpose does it possibly serve?"

"To satisfy the human mind." replied Shinji. "I'm sure it's the same for Shinpishugisha as well. Humans have a natural curiosity that pains them and drives them to experiment on things. From the simplest test of how to better grow crops to something like this, we always go toward what will bring us the greatest understanding."

"What do you mean exactly?"

"When an animal looks at a tree it might think, a tree, there is food or a hiding place there. When a human looks at a tree we think, a tree, what can I use it for? Why are the leaves green? Why in the winter do some trees loose leaves and others don't? Each question has an answer and each answer opens up more questions. We strive to learn as much as we can to understand this world and be closed to the gods that created us."

"Your trying to make yourselves gods?"

"Of course not." said Shinji. "Gods know everything and have the ability to create and destroy as they see fit. Even if we understand everything on this earth we wont learn everything. The stars are not on earth so we can't study them. We can't spontaneously create new life, we have to sacrifice something else to obtain it. The gods were smart by putting that limitation on us. We are confined to ever expand our knowledge and nothing else. So we will continue to do so because it's interesting."

"So you want to make a demon in your image because it's interesting?"

"No." said Gendo. "We want to make a demon because it was apparently almost done. The records show that in order to create a demon the Shinpishugisha had to make it out of many demons and that it was very large. Several times larger that a normal person. Apparently they only lived for a short while. We want to perfect that process and then make it so it can live. Finally we want to make it so it might be able to fit inside a house and actually be used by humans."

"We have lots of ideas for these demons, but we're not holding our breath. We have a very limited supply that we kept before the mist came and we are almost out. We have yet to see a demon survive the tests. We can't make anything."

Rei stood silent for a moment. "Creating something like this seems like a bad idea. You don't think that power like that will just be used for battle? We have a habit of taking things and using them for war."

"Unfortunately it's not a scientists concern what his creations are used for. We intend them to help people but they will always be miss used. That's just how it works."

"How about we change topics?" asked Gendo. "I'm sure you are wondering about the windmills and lava right?"

"Um, yeah sure." replied Rei.

"It's a very old story originating from before the mist. As the story goes one day a man came into town and started talking to people about how the earth heated the hot springs. This of course interested many people and they wanted to know more. After some explanation the man said that there was a way we could use that energy and create something great that would increase the tourism to our town."

"And it was the windmills?"

"Correct. This building used to be a sacred cave. He took several people down into that cave and they saw what you see before you now. This man explained exactly how to build the windmills from the lava, up through the ground and up into the air. As long as there was lava flowing the windmills would turn. Once they were constructed people came from all over to see this new site, and the town grew. Eventually we figured out how to use the windmills to power other things and our town continued to flourish. Two years after the man left the mist came and to our great surprise and pleasure the windmills kept it out. It was generally thought that the story about the mills increasing tourism was just a ploy to get us to build them. Who would have believed that an evil mist would come and take us over."

"That's just like what happened at Asuka's village."

"The man was like you Rei." said Shinji, "He blue hair and red eyes. The continuation of this Shinpishugisha project is, in large part, to thank him for helping our town survive for this long. Without him we'd all be either trapped in the mist or dead."

"That's amazing. Similar stories from two places. I wonder if it was the same guy?"

"See." said Shinji. "Your curiosity has been ignited. You'll probably try and find out your answer as soon as you possibly can."

"I guess you right."

"Since you understand," interjected Gendo, "would you like to assist us in our research? It would probably go much smoother if we had a Shinpishugisha helping us."

"No thank you. As soon as Asuka is healthy we have to move on. There are plenty of other villages that need to be saved."

"Too bad. Shinji please escort Rei upstairs, it's getting about that time, treat her to something to eat."

"Sure thing father. Come on Rei." Shinji turned and Rei followed.

When the two were about half way up the stairs Shinji, who was still walking in perfect form with his hands behind his back, spoke to Rei this time without looking back at Rei. "I'm very sorry about this. Basically what just happened is my father kicked you out of his house. He just does it in a polite way."

"I figured as much. Although he looked it he didn't sound to happy when I said I wouldn't help."

"Well you have to figure, he's doing research that was done by and on Shinpishugisha. Then one shows up and he can't use her. It's very upsetting to him. There is an upside though, now you don't have to listen to him talk while you eat."

"I guess that's good." Rei said with a chuckle.

"So you see know why I don't like him as much as everyone else. He can be rather annoying."

"Yes he can."

Shinji and Rei finally reached the top of the stairs and were back in the house. Without speaking Shinji continued to walk to the staircase like earlier. Rei followed him up to the second floor. There was a brilliant table on a floor of tatami mats that looked as though it should be in a palace.

"Please wait here while I ask for some food to be prepared."

"Ok."

Shinji walked into the next room and spoke to someone. Unfortunately Rei could not hear what they were talking about so she sat quietly at the table looking at the room. She was still amazed at how great it was compared to the rest of the house.

"The food will be ready shortly." Shinji said as he came back into the room. "I asked my mother if she could cook instead of the normal cook. Her food is a lot better and I'd rather not torture you with his cooking."

"Thank you. I heard that I would be served terrible food her and have to listen to the doctor talk for hours."

"And you would have if you did not upset him and cause him to loose interest. Good move on your part."

"So it seems." Rei and Shinji both laughed. "Um Shinji. This is probably the wrong time and thing to ask, but is there anywhere in town that I can obtain a weapon? Asuka need one and she I good with a spear."

"Yeah sure. We actually have a few weapons here. I think there is I mighty fine spear there. I can let you have it."

"Really? Thank you."

"No problem."

Rei and Shinji continued to talk for a while until there meal was served. It was not served by Shinji's mother as Rei thought it would be. She wondered why she did not come out. Rei stop thinking about it and began eating instead.

"This is really good." Rei said taking her first bit of real food in weeks.

"Thank you, I'll be sure to let my mother know."

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you mother not came out with the meal?"

"Don't know. She just doesn't come into this room often. She's either in the kitchen or in the lab. My parents are very odd."

"Indeed."

"Rei." said Shinji.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering, what would you say to me coming with you on your journey. I really don't want to stay here and work down in that sweltering hot lab anymore, and want a change of scenery. Also I can get away from my father for a while."

"I'm not sure. Don't take this the wrong way, but it's already really hard to travel and fight with Asuka to look after. Don't get me wrong she's not a bad person or a burden or anything but…."

"I understand what you are saying, but I also know how to fight. I know a lot about this area and could really be of assistance to you. If you'd prefer I can demonstrate my abilities."

"Ok sure. If you can fight as well as you say you'll be a powerful ally."

"Thank you. After we eat I'll show you what you want to see."

They finished their meal talking the whole time. Rei enjoyed Shinji's perpetual joy, weird as he was. They laughed at each others jokes and became friends. Rei liked the fact that she kept meeting people who looked past the bad reputation of her kind and saw her for who she was. Shinji enjoyed talking to someone who wasn't obsessed with strange research and talked differently than one who was. After the meal Shinji lead Rei outside to an open area in front of a storage shed.

"Ok, I can show you what I can do here. When we're finished I'll get the spear out of the shed. I think it's there, can't imagine anywhere else it'd be."

"Right. I don't care how you fight just show me what you can do. Don't worry about hurting or killing me I'll be fine."

"Yes I should worry about me." Shinji said holding his arms out at an angle, his palms up. After a moment of standing in that position an explosion erupted in the distance. "Well that didn't sound good." Shinji said calmly.

Rei ran toward the explosion. "We'll continue this later."

"Oh what a pain." Shinji sighed putting his hand on his forehead. "I guess I'll show her what I can do over where the trouble is." and Shinji ran off toward the explosion.

The explosion came from a windmill halfway across town. The base was weakened and it toppled over tearing down the wall of a building. Several townspeople were running in fear of the explosion and its cause. Next to the fallen windmill were two people, one was around seven feet tall, extremely muscular, and covered in crystal armor that stopped at the neck. The other was much small, a normal sized man with crystal armor only on his right arm. This man had on brown hakama and kimono. Both had swords on their left hips.

"Your quite excessive with things Nana." said the small man flatly.

"Whatever you say Shi." boomed Nana. "This works out great, now the village will be filled with fear as it is taken into the mist. The best way to go."

"You best learn restraint or you will end up defying Shinigami's orders. That will cause your death."

"You work for Shinigami!" yelled Rei who was standing in front of them.

"Who the hell are you?" bellowed Nana.

"Answer my question." Rei replied. "You look like Hachi, who are you?"

"So your that Shinpishugisha bitch. Great now I can kill you and take the town in one motion." Nana said.

"Our objective is not to kill her just to toy with her, test her. We are only here to take this town over." said Shi.

"Bullshit! If she's here she's going to die by my hand." yelled Nana.

Nana charged in at Rei and threw a right punch toward her. His massive fist came down with tremendous force, enough to take down the windmill. It was stopped by Rei's left hand. When Rei blocked the punch it pushed her back just a little. She caught her footing and was holding back Nana's hand. It wasn't easy, she was forcing it away. Hachi yelled and threw down another punch with his opposite hand and it was again blocked by Rei.

When Nana's eyes widened with surprise Rei used that moment to jump from where she was standing. Nana fell forward just slightly. Rei was above him and she flipped forward and dropped a kick on the back of his skull. She spun in the air and threw a kick to the side of his head. Nana stumbled to the side trying to keep his balance after the attack. Rei vanished and appeared behind his back, she jumped behind his head and delivered an elbow to the top of his head with her right hand. Nana fell over onto the ground.

Turning to Shi Rei said, "Do I need to attack you too?" Rei glared at Shi with a look that would stop most people in their tract from fear of death. "Tell me what I want to know or you get worse than he."

"YOU BITCH!" yelled Nana as he tried to stand. "THERE'S NO WAY I'LL LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS." he reached for his sword and as he grabbed it Shi appeared by his side. With a small flick of the wrist, the motion used to shoo away a fly Shi's hand hit Nana. Nana coughed and fell over faster than when Rei hit him.

"Fool." Shi said in his monotone voice. "Our job was not to kill her only to bring the town under. You must learn that restraint." He looked toward Rei. "Your threat is composed of only empty words. There is no way someone like yourself could ever cause me harm." Shi swung his right arm to his right and then his left. Two more windmills fell over as if they were cut. Half of the towns windmills were now destroyed. "Now the town shall be ours. I'll leave you to fight my demons and destroy the rest of them." Shi snapped his fingers and a large group of demons came from the ground. He grabbed Nana's arm and the both disappeared into a black shadow.

"Damn you come back!" Rei yelled. "Shit now I have to deal with these guys."

"I'll help." said Shinji in his usual happy voice.

"Shinji?"

"It looks like you could use some assistance. You could probably have before, but I know I would not fare so well against those two. I'll ask about them later, lets kill some demons shall we."

Rei smiled, "Yeah. Any that look as though they are made of crystal let me handle, I might be able to convince them to save this town."

"I understand." Shinji said and ran into the crowd of demons.

Shinji found himself surrounded by demons. They were similar in size to a panther, but looked several times more vicious.

"Oh this looks bad." Shinji said calmly and held his hands out like he did when he was about to fight Rei.

One of the panther demons attacked him and he avoided it without changing his expression. From his sleeves came two small blades each about six inches in length. With several lightning fast spins and swings of his swords the panther fell over dead, its blood spraying from each of the cuts. It did not scream, it's death was silent.

"Now for the rest of them." said Shinji.

Else where in the mob of demons Rei was fighting the same type of demons. She avoided the attacks and cut them in a vital spot. As she continued several demons attacked her at the same time and she jumped into the air to avoid the attack. While in the air she called on the bat demon from her fight with Hachi. When it was summoned it flew at the panthers and screeched. The panthers stopped their attack for a moment and the bat demon flapped its wings causing large gusts of wind. The wind cut the demons as if it were swords and killed them.

"Impressive." Rei said when she landed. The demon disappeared on its own. "That was odd." Rei said then avoiding an attack from behind.

After some fighting Rei and Shinji meet in the center of the crowd of demons. They were back to back both breathing slightly heavier.

"You really are quite the fighter Shinji."

"Thank you for your kind words." Shinji replied.

"When we get out of this you can definitely come with us."

"Oh goodie. By the way I have seen no demons of crystal yet, is that bad?"

"Yes, they are the ones that can be used to save the town. Did that bastard not summon any?"

"Well if he knew that you could use them for that not bringing any would be the smarter idea."

"Good point. Lets just finish this and we can worry about the mist later."

Shinji and Rei then ran back at the demons, cutting them down in the same fashion the had been, Rei with speed and precision, one cut to kill, Shinji with a dance of cuts to the entire body, a silent death to his victims. After quite some time all the demons summoned by Shi had been killed.

"Damn." said Rei. "Those were strong and we still don't have a way to save the town."

"Well," said Shinji, " The town is now almost completely covered with mist. They somehow without us knowing took down the other windmills. In a few minutes the town will be completely covered in the mist and demons will stroll on in. Maybe a useful one will show up."

"You town has fallen to the mist and your being positive?"

"Negativity doesn't work. Positive attitudes and sarcasm are the best ways to make it thought the day."

Rei chuckled, "You are odd indeed."

"Odd is usually good."

"So Shinji, where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Oh, a friend of the families was an accomplished martial artist. I used to skip out on studying when I was younger and go train with him. It was always more fun."

"Whoever taught you must have been very good, your speed and skill with a blade is phenomenal."

"Thank you. I never had the body to be amazingly strong so I worked on speed. Seemed smarter."

"Yes apparently."

"SHINJI!" yelled a voice.

"Yes?" he replied as if it was normal for him to be yelled for in a mist of death.

"Shinji, your father needs you in the lab right now. He said to bring the girl."

"Ah yes, he must want us to help. He probably has a demon down there that you can use. Wait, how would he know about you ability to do that? Odd. Shall we go."

"Yes."

Rei and Shinji ran back to the lab and down to where Gendo was. There they saw Misato standing next to Gendo.

"Misato, what are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"I went down a set of stairs next to the windmill near the inn. It was installed as an easy access for maintenance reasons. Anyway I told Gendo about how you can free a town from the mist and he thinks he can accommodate you."

"Really?"

"But of course. This is a lab that studies demons, you think we wouldn't have a few that are meant to help us to begin with?"

"Fine but where is it?"

"This way." Gendo said and walked toward his demon. Rei, Shinji and Misato followed him. "Right here." Gendo pointed. The demon was about half the size of a human and looked like a crow. It was made of crystal, the right type for freeing the town. "Will this do?"

"Possibly." Rei said looking at the demon. It was weak and looked very hurt. "What's wrong with it?"

"It is a test subject. You should be happy I'm willing to sacrifice materials to you. If I don't then I wont be able to continue my research. Now, can you free us with it?"

Rei walked over and put her hand on the demons head. From inside its mind she could feel the pain that it had been through because of Gendo's test. "Do you want to save this town?" she asked. She could feel the hate within the demon burn for Gendo, it did not want to help anyone if I meant helping him as well. "Its ok," Rei said to the demon. "I can make sure he knows your pain. If you do this you will be free of him." The demon excepted and sacrificed itself to clear the mist.

When the energy from the demon had finished dispersing Misato, Shinji and Gendo looked at her in amazement at what had just happened.

"Amazing." said Gendo. "If only I knew how a demon could emit that much power. It might be enough to further my research."

"Your work must end Gendo."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"That demon was created to help humans, but because of you it wanted nothing more than to die. Your work must stop."

"Nonsense. My work shall change the world. It is beneficial."

"Sorry." Rei said quietly. She attacked Gendo and struck him with her fingers at several points. Gendo fell to his knees in agony, clutching his left arm. "To know the pain you have caused others you shall be in pain. It will be unbearable for about three days and then it will pass. You will wish for death and there will be nothing anyone can do for you. Remember this before your experiment again." Rei turned and walked out of the lab.

When Rei had made it outside she stopped and looked up at the sky. It was late in the afternoon, it would be night in a few hours. She wanted to go and talk with Asuka, tell her what happened, confide in her. Just then Shinji appeared behind her.

"That was quite something back there. You punished him because you thought what he was doing was wrong or did the demon ask you too?"

"The demon would not help us if it meant helping him, I merely set the conditions so it would help us."

"But you also followed them. You feel for the demons because they are good and you alone can speak with them. It makes sense you know."

"I, am becoming exceedingly cruel."

"What are you talking about?"

"I am being guided by my emotions and not my mind. I get angry when someone hurts Asuka and slay them viciously. I go into a rage when someone mentions Shinigami, the man who attacked my village. I did that to your father. I killed a human because he was evil and it was someone's wish."

Shinji put his hand on Rei's shoulder, "So you protect your friend, stand up for creatures who can't, you wish to stop the person who caused you pain, and you fulfilled someone's dieing wish. I don't see how you are so evil."

Shinji's voice was quiet and soothing, completely different from his usual happiness. Rei was surprised by it, but did not reject it. She wanted the comfort that his voice could bring.

"You only feel like you are being cruel. Your doing what everyone wishes they could do, what you think is right. Unfortunately, these actions can adversely effect others. The only thing that is vastly different from what I know about you is the lack of emotional control, but consider your circumstance. You are entitled to feel these things. As long as they don't control you, you will be fine. So please, cheer up."

Rei turned to Shinji with tears in her eyes. "Thank, thank you Shinji. You are a very good friend. Will you please come with Asuka and I on are journey?"

"Of course, but you can't be sad anymore, ok."

"Ok."

"Let's go back to the inn. I'll get that weapon for Asuka and you can introduce me."

"Yeah." Rei said with a smile.

AUTHORS NOTE:

Alright some tenderness between Rei and Shinji. This raises the question of what will happen between them. Will it upset the Asuka Rei relationship? Wait until the next chapter to find out. I know some of you were anticipating the battle between the other two numbers, but I was writing and then realized how long this chapter was getting so I decided to wrap it up. The next one will finish up the stop in Oshu and the whole gang will move on to even more fun and violence.


	6. Chapter 6

Rei and Shinji arrived at the inn shortly before dusk. Shinji carried a long object wrapped in cloth presumably to be Asuka's spear. When they entered the inn they were greeted by a panicky Hikari.

"Thank goodness you are ok." she said to Rei. "When I heard that explosion I was worried that something was going to happen. Then the mist came and I thought we were all doomed. Asuka tried to go out but I stopped her. Instead she calmed me down and told me that you would be fine. Even so, it's good to actually know that you are ok."

"Thank you for your concern." said Rei.

"Yes thank you for caring so much about us." said Shinji with a smile.

"Oh, Shinji, I didn't realize that you were out there. Did you fight too?"

"Yes I did."

"And your ok?"

"Of course."

"That's good. I probably wouldn't have had a reason to worry about you anyway."

"More than likely true."

"I don't mean to interrupt but how is Asuka?"

"Oh, she's awake. She's kind of weak, but she is doing well. She should be well enough to travel in three days."

"Great, can I see her?"

"Of course." Hikari lead them into Asuka's room and sat down next to her. "Hey Asuka, Rei is here to see you."

"Rei?" Asuka said weakly trying to look up. She saw her and smiled. "Hey, how are you?"

"I'm fine. How are you feeling Asuka?"

"Not bad. I'm the great Asuka after all, I'll be fine in no time."

"Of course. You make sure to get some rest. Can she eat?" Rei asked Hikari.

"Yes I think so."

"Well I'm hungry, Shinji probably is and Asuka was originally going to hurt me for stealing her food so, lets have some dinner shall we?"

"Ok, I'll go prepare some." Hikari said and she walked off to the kitchen.

"Hey Rei," said Asuka, "Hikari and I are friends. She is a really good person."

"Alright. If she is your friend then she's mine." Rei said with a smile.

"Who's that?" Asuka said pointing at Shinji.

"This is my new friend, his name is Shinji. He helped me save the town when the demons came."

"Demons came here?"

"Yeah, more people like Hachi showed up and destroyed the windmills. It's ok though, the mist wont come back."

Asuka looked up at Shinji and Shinji smiled back. "I don't like him." Asuka said turning her head away.

"What? Why not?"

"He likes you too much. He's trying to take you away from me."

"Asuka what are you talking about? I'm not going to leave you, ever."

"Really?"

"Of course not. Asuka you are my first friend. When are journey has ended and the mist is gone we'll settle in some peaceful town and live out our lives there, together."

"We'll live in the same town for the rest of our lives. That sounds nice."

"It will be, so don't be mean to Shinji ok."

"It doesn't matter what you say, what he wants is what he wants, you can't change that. So until he changes his mind I wont like him."

"You are stubborn." Rei said with a chuckle. "Here I'll talk with Shinji, you rest until dinner, then I have a gift for you."

"Ok."

Rei and Shinji walked into the next room. Shinji put the object he was carrying up against the wall. Shinji looked at Rei and was slightly surprised at the serious look on her face.

"Wow, either I did something bad or you think she was right."

"I'm sorry about what Asuka said, she's very protective of me. I'm the first person she's known for a long time. Her and I were the only friends each other had for the longest time."

"I understand. Do you think I want to take you away from Asuka?"

"No, but…" Rei paused, her eyes went downcast. "But I do think you have feelings for me."

"That may be true, but how could I not. Your nice, funny, fun to talk with, your strong willed and fight for what is right. Not liking you would be crazy." Shinji smiled.

"You have similarly good qualities, I like talking with you and your perpetual kindness, but, I'm not sure if it is anything beyond that. I've never had an attachment to someone like this before so.."

Shinji put his hand on Rei's shoulder. "It's fine. I didn't confess to you or anything. Take whatever time you need to work out you feelings for people. I'll let you know how I feel when I think I should."

Rei and Shinji smiled at each other. This connection, this warmth Rei felt when she talked to Shinji was like when she meet and befriended Asuka. Only, this time it was slightly different. Rei couldn't tell if it was because she was used to the feeling or if it was because she wasn't used to the feeling. The only thing she knew is that she couldn't let it progress, Asuka couldn't have any negative thoughts right now.

"Ok, lets go back in. I want to tell Asuka what happened today."

"Ok."

They went back into the room and Rei sat down next to Asuka. Rei put her hand on her shoulder and looked at her. Asuka looked up at Rei and smiled.

"So, do you want to hear about what happened today?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Ok." Rei told Asuka about Gendo's experiments, the two that attacked the town, the battle and the demon that offered itself to save the town. Asuka sat and listened quietly until the end of the story.

"That smaller guy that attacked today, he sounds really strong."

"Yeah, it was kind of frightening. I don't think I could beat him if I fought him now."

"You know, I find something interesting." said Shinji. "That first guy you fought, Hachi, you said he was completely covered in demons right?"

"Yes."

"The big guy was covered up to his neck and the small guy only had is arm covered."

"You point." Asuka said rudely, still not liking Shinji.

"The small guy was the strongest and he was covered the least, isn't that interesting to you two?"

"What do you think that means Shinji?"

"You said Hachi said he surrendered himself to demons. Maybe the amount covering the body has something to do with the original strength of the person."

"Even if it did what good would knowing that serve?" asked Rei.

"Absolutely none." Shinji said with a smile. "What?" Shinji said responding to the stares from both Asuka and Rei, who's was admittedly less evil looking. "I'm a scientist, things interest me and I want to know why. It wont help us fight them I just want to know it."

"I should have expected this from you Shinji." said Rei. She had a small smile that she tried to hide from Asuka.

"The food is ready." said Hikari who was standing in the door.

"Alright lets eat." said Shinji.

"Come on Asuka. Let's get you some food so you can recover faster."

Rei carried Asuka into the other room and sat her at the table. Asuka had enough strength to sit up and eat by herself so Rei let her go and sat in her spot. Hikari's meal was a good one. It consisted of rice, tea and a stew full of beef and vegetables. It was only when they smelled it did Rei and Shinji realize how hungry they were, their stomachs growled in unison. They looked at each other and blushed slightly. To relieve the tension Hikari started the meal and began to eat. The others followed suit and they ate their full.

After the meal Everyone sat around talking for a while. Rei motioned to Shinji to go get the item he put against the wall.

"Asuka, like I said earlier I have something for you." Rei waved her hand and Shinji unwrapped what he was holding, it was in fact a spear. It was perfectly forged with a long blade edged on both sides. It would stand slightly taller than Asuka and be a great weapon for her. "I got you that spear I promised you."

"Rei that's great, now I can fight better and not leave as much to you."

"Yeah, if you get good enough I can leave all the fighting to you."

"I give it a week after I can walk again." boasted Asuka, which was lost in her lack of energy.

"You should see Shinji fight, he is also quite skilled." Rei said trying to rid the tension between them.

"I could beat him." said Asuka. "And I will if he tries to take you away from me."

"Asuka."

"I'll remember your warning." Shinji said smiling.

"Why do you always smile?"

"Why not?"

"That's not a reason. Really, why do you?"

"Because I'm always happy."

"That's strange. How can someone always be happy?"

"When someone realizes that being sad does no good. When someone knows that things can always get worse and that getting sad does nothing. And when that someone knows someone else doesn't like it and that first someone happens not to like the second someone entirely."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry I'll be more clear when you have more energy."

Asuka turned her head away from Shinji. "Fine."

Rei smiled at the two of them. "I think Asuka likes Shinji now." she said to herself.

"I don't mean to stop you guys but Asuka should probably go and get some more rest." said Hikari.

"Good idea." said Rei. "You rest up and get better. We have more places to save."

"Right. I'll get better and then we can go kick some ass." Asuka stood up, with the help of Hikari, and went back to her room.

"She's great, really fun to talk with. Her personality is unlike anyone's I've ever dealt with."

"Yeah, she's something else."

"She still does not like the fact that I'm around you though."

"No, but I think just then she excepted you a little bit."

"Really? That's good. I don't want to travel with someone who doesn't like me."

"That would really suck."

In the evening two nights later Rei and Asuka were enjoying a bath in the inn's hot spring. Shinji also was but on the male side with a large wooden wall in between the two sections. He sat there quietly and relaxed with absolutely no intent of spying on the girls. Asuka hated him enough he didn't want to add any reason, and he wasn't a pervert. Asuka and Rei were talking about what the next day would hold.

"This is great we'll be able to leave tomorrow. I have felt like a useless lump just sitting here for so long." said Asuka.

"Yeah, I just hope that you don't get sick again."

"I wont not after this great hot spring treatment. I'll probably be good to go for another year before I could get sick."

"And if we actually eat some food this time it will be easier too."

"Yeah and we have to use that damn fire demon everyday."

"Ok I'll make sure I don't forget."

They both laughed. Asuka thought it was funny while Rei was just glad that her friend was well enough to make continuous jokes. They sat back against the edge of the hot spring and Rei looked up at the sky. Asuka looked at Rei and a look of love came across her face. When she realized how she must have looked she corrected it by talking.

"I still don't think we need to bring Shinji along. We both have weapons now so we'll be ok. He's annoying anyway."

"Asuka you know we can't do that. I said he could come with us and besides, I don't think just the two of us will be strong enough to stop these guys."

"Was that guy, what did they call him Shi, really that strong?"

"Yeah he was." Rei said lowering her head. Rei's eyes settled on Asuka and her chest. "Damn," Rei thought, "I definitely loose. At least mine are bigger than Hikari's."

"Hey Rei," said Asuka quietly, "do you like Shinji?"

"Well yeah. He's a good guy, has a pure heart and wants to help us. He is willing to leave everything he knows for that, so yeah I like him."

"That's not what I mean. I mean, do you like him?"

"Asuka."

"Please answer."

"I don't know. Talking with him was is as great as talking with you, but I wouldn't know if it was anything more than friendship. I feel the same thing about you both, you are my good friends."

"I…see." said Asuka quietly. "Well that's good then. You wont break your promise of staying with me then."

"Of course not. I never go back on my word." Rei smiled after finishing.

Asuka smiled back but felt slightly disappointed. She wanted Rei to feel something more for her, but she didn't want to admit it. It seemed odd for her to feel that way about her. Just then Rei got out of the water. "What is it Rei?"

"Nothing, it's just getting late and we have an early start tomorrow. I'm going to got to bed you should too. Did you hear that Shinji? We should bet some sleep!"

"If you had said that just a little different it could have sounded bad and yes I heard you. I'll get out now and head off to bed!"

"Alright!"

Rei and Asuka got out of the hot spring and went inside. There they dried off and changed into night robes. They were going to miss sleeping in something nice and clean. Their stay in Oshu had spoiled them a little. When they made their way up to their room Shinji was already there starting to get into bed. It was really strange, for some reason they were all in the same room. The inn had space, to traveling meant no visitors. No one could understand why Misato had put all three of them in one room just big enough for them to fit. As Rei and Asuka laid down to sleep Shinji spoke looking up at the ceiling.

"What's it like out there? I've never been outside of town."

"It's cold." said Rei. "Until you get to a town it's just wilderness. In our case once you get to a town it still isn't anything to cheer for until we free the town. We've been lucky so far in that no one has rejected us for me being a Shinpishugisha, but it might happen eventually."

"Well that all sounds like fun. Are there a lot of demons out there?"

"Sometimes yes."

"What are you scared Shinji?"

"Curious actually. There might be a little fear in there somewhere, but none I can feel. Is that bad?"

"If you still have sound judgment about things than no." responded Rei.

"Ok, well, see you two in the morning." Shinji said and fell asleep almost instantly.

Shinji had two strange abilities, he could sleep almost on cue and he could sleep as much as he wanted. The morning prior to this one Asuka was yelling at him to wake him up did he didn't move. When Rei stopped Asuka's yell and calmly asked Shinji to wake up his eyes instantly opened. Turns out he wasn't ignoring Asuka's yelling he did not hear it. He said that he can sleep during anything that's not important, and a girl yelling at him was not important, politeness was.

The next morning Rei awoke before dawn and readied her things. She got dressed into her warrior gear and tucked all her weapons where they were supposed to be. When she went to wake the others up Shinji was already up and awake. He was nearly dressed and facing the other side of the room.

"Just trying to avoid us seeing each other as we dressed is all." Shinji said before he was asked. "You should wake Asuka up, I don't want her to attack me."

Rei chuckled. "You really like Asuka don't you?"

"She's a good person who doesn't like me because she see's me as a threat to her friend. Its rational dislike. There is nothing wrong with her so, yeah, I have no reason not to like her."

"Is that you way of saying you like someone?" asked Asuka from her bed.

"If I have no reason not to like someone then I like them. I'm hopelessly positive remember."

"There is something wrong with you."

"Ok you two lets get moving. Finish getting ready and I'll get some food. Hikari said she would lay out something for us since no one else is up yet."

"So does that mean we're leaving without saying goodbye?" asked Asuka

"We said goodbye last night." Rei said.

"Yeah but, I'll miss Hikari."

"Don't worry, this town is safe and we can always come back. You'll see her again."

Asuka smiled. "Your right."

Rei walked down to the kitchen where Hikari said she would leave the food. There she saw several boxes of food, it looked like enough to last them for a few days. On the boxes of food was a piece of paper. Rei picked it up and noticed that it had something written on it, it was a note from Hikari.

_Rei, you'll probably be the one to pick this up so I'll address this letter to you. First off I hope you enjoy the food I prepared for you, I made it with your health in mind. It should keep Asuka from getting sick any time soon. I don't know if it will be possible, but please try to keep Asuka safe. You need to be careful as well. I know you are stronger than most, but don't forget that you can die just like us. While your journey is important it doesn't matter if it means you will die. I don't want either of my new friends to die. Please be careful and look out for everyone._

"Wow, she must really be worried about us. It will be fine Hikari, no ones going to die."

Shinji and Asuka appeared in the doorway of the kitchen and looked at Rei.

"Hey come on, it's time to go." Asuka said.

"Right. Here, take this food first, it's too much for one person to carry." Re handed Shinji and Asuka each a few boxes of food.

"Well this should be good." said Shinji. "Hikari always did make good meals."

"I've been meaning to ask, you long have you known Hikari?" asked Rei.

"Why my whole life. We don't live that far from each other and the town is not very big. When we were kids she used to make things and she would ask me to try them. I liked it, a good excuse to be fed."

"Did you ever think that Hikari might have liked you?" Asuka asked with an annoyed tone.

"Yes, but she never said anything so I didn't either."

"Why?"

"I never had any feelings for her, she was and still is, just a friend."

"That's mean of you Shinji."

"Ok you two can we continue this while we walk?" interjected Rei.

"Sure." said Asuka.

"Of course." said Shinji.

Rei, Asuka and Shinji walked together out of the inn and toward the edge of town. When they left they walked by one of the destroyed windmills. All three of them looked at it as they passed. The symbol of Oshu was destroyed .

"Do you think they will rebuild the windmills?" Rei asked when the had made it out of the town.

"Hmm, maybe. They don't have much of a purpose anymore. At least not until the world if free of the mist. I guess if they were planning on the tourism after we succeeded than yes they will. I wonder if they remember how."

"You mean they don't know?" asked Asuka.

"Well it was a hundred years ago that we were shown how. I don't know if anyone wrote it down. If not then they can only hope that they can figure it out."

"Don't you care?"

"Not really. The town is safe from the mist, which is what they were doing. Since the windmills are no longer needed then it doesn't matter to me if they go back up or not."

"So if they serve no purpose they don't matter?" replied Rei.

"That's pretty much how it works. Windmills are just things, things don't care."

"I suppose your right."

"This is boring." said Asuka. "Lets just keep on going, we can talk about something else."

"Yes you highness." said Shinji sarcastically.

From Oshu Rei, Asuka and Shinji walked northeast toward their next destination. It was a small town and the name was not on the map. It was the closest place to Oshu, only about four days away. It was the preferred destination as the weather was the same as when Asuka and Rei arrived in Oshu, cold and snowing. It was slightly difficult to walk through the snow, it was piled up higher than their knees and took a lot to clear.

"Man this sucks!" complained Asuka. "Isn't there an easier way for us to walk through this?"

"I don't think so." said Shinji. "Better hope the next town we get to doesn't throw us out, we may be stuck there for a while."

"You may be right." replied Rei. "But still there must be someway to make this simpler."

"You have a fire demon don't you? Melt some snow."

"Shinji your brilliant."

"Are you serious? You didn't think of that at all?"

"I did I was just trying to get through without using them too much."

"And why were you doing that?"

"I didn't want to relay too much on their power."

"It's not their power it's yours. Sure it comes from them, but you control it. Not using every recourse one has is just plain dumb, unless it would be wasting them. But here its saving us some trouble and the cold."

"Good point." said Rei and then she summoned her fire demon. It charged forward glowing with heat and melted the snow as it went. They had a considerable path cleared for them.

"So it works just fine."

Rei, Asuka and Shinji walked for the rest of the day as such. Every once in a while Rei would clear the snow with the help of her demon. When it was approaching night they noticed that the amount of snow on the ground was lessening. It was only part way up their shins by then so it would be considerably easier to travel. They eventually found a spot where they agreed to set up for the night. They laid down a large piece of cloth to keep them dryer while they slept. Rei used her fire demon to start a fire and then the snake demon to form a wall to give them more cover. They sat by the fire and ate their evening meal.

"So this is what it's like to travel in the wilderness. It's very interesting." said Shinji.

"I think you are the only one who would describe this as interesting." replied Asuka.

"How would you describe it then Asuka?"

"I don't know, I bit of a pain I guess. Although you do get used to it eventually."

"So why is interesting so bad?"

"It's not, it's just weird."

"Really? It is an interest to me, I describe these things as interesting."

"Whatever."

"So Rei, What's it like being able to summon demons?"

"I'm not sure how to describe it. It feels so natural to me, like talking, you know."

"I kind of understand. Can you only summon one at a time?"

"I think so. I've thought about summoning two at once but it just feels odd."

"Like trying to say two words at once?"

"Kind of." Rei said with a small laugh.

Asuka was slightly upset by the joy an togetherness between Shinji and Rei, it was only enforcing her fear of him taking her away. "So Shinji, what are you going to do if we get attacked in the middle of the night?" she said to stop this.

"Wake up and fight them. I can't think of much else to do."

"You think you'll be able to? You slept so soundly at the inn."

"Well yeah, it was an inn, your supposed to sleep. I'll be on alert here."

"How well can you fight really?"

"Didn't you hear Rei, quite well."

"And what does that mean?"

"I am a master of the silent kill technique. I make no sound in my attacks and my enemies make no sound in their death. The dance of blades silences them before they can scream."

"Ooo. Sounds creepy." Asuka replied being condescending.

"Ok you two, no more fighting. God I feel like I'm Kenji."

"Yes mommy." replied Shinji.

"Who's Kenji?" Asuka asked.

"Oh, he's the one who taught me how to fight."

"Damn he must be really good then huh?"

"Yes. He was able to do this journey without special powers. He's much stronger than I am."

"I doubt that Rei." said Asuka. "He didn't have to those really strong guys like Hachi. You need this power."

"You right. And he didn't go through all of this. He only went for his temple to my village, a much shorter trip."

"Well this has been fun, but I'm going to sleep now. Does anyone mind?"

"No of course not." replied Asuka.

"Alright then, good night." Shinji said and went to sleep.

"Asuka, were you just civil with Shinji."

"I uh, well, no. I just didn't want to have to listen to him anymore."

"So you really don't hate him do you?" Rei said to herself knowing that Asuka would never admit that. "We should follow his lead and sleep."

"Yeah I guess so."

Asuka and Rei lay down to go to sleep. Early the next morning a noise startled Asuka awake. She jumped up and grabbed her spear. She stood on alert expecting demons to attach any second.

"Why are you awake?" asked Shinji still with his eyes closed.

"We're being attacked you twit you need to wake up."

"That wasn't a demon, it was a squirrel that broke a branch. Unless demons are that small than you are fine." Shinji opened his eyes. "But since I'm awake I might as well move."

"How do you know it's not a demon?"

"I said didn't I? It wasn't large enough to be anything to worry about."

"You can tell what something is by how much sound it makes?"

"I have mastered silence, you have to know sound to do that. Part of my training involved fighting with a blindfold on. I can hear and discern sounds with ease."

"That's incredible."

"We all have different skills, I can exist without making a sound, you can probably survive by you self with ease, unless you get a wicked bad illness, and Rei can fight in dozens of different ways better than any normal human. Isn't that right Rei?"

Rei rolled over to face Shinji and Asuka. "Yeah that sounds about right."

"You were awake the whole time?"

"Yeah, I noticed the sound too. I wasn't sure if it was anything to worry about so I decided not to react."

"See, three different reaction based on who we are. People are so much fun."

"Wow Shinji you are weird." Asuka said with a slight laugh.

"She really doesn't hate me." Shinji said to himself.

"Well since we are all awake lets pack up and get moving." said Rei as she stood up."

Asuka and Shinji packed up the cloth while Rei dismissed her demon. They made sure the fire was out, even thought with all the snow it wouldn't do any real damage, and continued on their way.

Elsewhere, several miles away, two people were discussing something sinister.

"What do you think Roku, when shall we attack them?"

"Don't care Go, I'm wondering what we should do to them."

"I can't believe that Shi and Nana were stopped."

"Now now it wasn't that bad. Nana is an idiot and tried to fight her. Shi did what he was ordered, destroyed the windmills. They acted as they were expected to."

"Your right. Let's attack tonight, that should be fun."

Rei, Asuka and Shinji walked quietly for a while until the silence started to feel awkward. Asuka started to look back and forth at Shinji and Rei wondering why no one was speaking. Asuka went to speak several times but could not find anything to talk about so she kept quiet.

"Damn." Asuka thought to herself. "What the hell is going on here? Why are we so quiet? And why the hell can't I bring myself to speak? Damn it!"

Asuka took a deep breath and was prepared to say anything to break the silence. As she opened her mouth she noticed something move off to her left.

"Huh?" she said completely lost in the act of trying to speak.

"You noticed it too?" said Shinji.

"Well of course, I'm not an idiot."

"Good news, it's not a squirrel this time."

"A demon then?"

"Most likely."

"Just be ready for it." said Rei. "I think there is more than one."

"There might be." said Shinji.

The demon appeared from behind a tree. It was about six feet tall, had large muscles and look human like. Its head was down as if it not interested in what was in front of it. When it lifted its head up its eyes glowed yellow. It lifted its arms to revile two more.

"Yikes." said Asuka. "Why would anything need four arms?"

"To grab four things." said Shinji.

Before Asuka could reply the demon ran towards them. It leaped into the air to attack from above. Asuka quickly drew her spear and thrust it into the demon as it came down. She held the demon, impaled on the spear, in the air for a moment and then threw it off. Blood from the wound mad a trail from her spear to where the demon landed and it slowly soaked into the snow.

"There, that wasn't hard. Let's keep moving."

"Nice shot Asuka." said Rei.

The team continued to walk and only a few minutes later they noticed another demon off in the woods.

"Damn another one." said Rei.

"Well there was more than one before." said Shinji. "But I don't think this will be the last."

"As long as we don't have to fight them all day." said Asuka.

The demon that emerged this time was the same as the last only it carried swords, one in each hand. When it attacked it did not jump into the air it ran straight at them. Rei calmly threw a knife and punctured its throat causing it to fall at their feet.

"Again, skillful." said Shinji.

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, many more of those demons emerged from the woods all carrying a sword in each hand. Rei, Asuka and Shinji were completely surrounded by demons.

"This could be bad." Rei said standing calmly.

"Will get 'em." said Asuka. "These guys are weaklings."

As the word weakling escaped Asuka lips the demons charged in simultaneously. Rei, Asuka and Shinji stood waiting for the attack, and when the demons were within striking distance the drew their weapons can began to cut them.

The battle went surprisingly easy considering the number of enemies. The attack was uncoordinated and the demons had no skill with their weapons. Despite them having four swords Rei had to do very little in the way of avoiding or blocking attacks. She mostly killed each demon with single strokes, severing vital areas like the throat and chest. Several demons she stabbed in the heart. Asuka was able to hit three or so demons at once due to the length and swing of her spear. The demons did not make it close enough to hit here. Shinji lazily dodged the attacks and then cut vital spots of the demons. He made no effort to be serious, dodging the attacks was like avoiding a person on the street. By the battles end the snow around them was drowned in blood.

"Damn that was annoying." said Shinji.

"I wonder where they all came from." said Asuka.

"I am more concerned about where demons got their hands on weapons."

"Oh your right that is interesting."

"Stop that Shinji. Lets just keep moving so more don't show up."

"Ok Asuka, I'll do as you say."

Later that day, around noon, when the team was about to rest and eat more of the same demons from earlier appeared. There were about as many as the first attack and again they all carried swords.

"Lunch is on hold you two." said Rei. "we have to take care of these guys again."

"What a drag." said Asuka.

"Yes, very much so."

This time the demons could actually fight. The demons attacks were more coordinated and they made use of their four arms. Normally this would have been bad, but Rei and Shinji were smart, they did not go into a battle thinking the fight would be easy, they approached it as if it would be challenging. Asuka on the other hand tried to deal with them as easily as last time and she was meet with difficultly. After being unable to kill the demons she finally became serious just in time to avoid a cut to the face by a demon. The battle raged much longer this time and when it ended the snow was again crimson in color. Neither Rei, Shinji or Asuka were hurt, but they were hungry at that point. Noon had past and they could not afford to stop and eat. They ate as they walked.

"What a pain this is." said Asuka quite annoyed. "Why do we have to eat and walk? Sure we don't want to loose much time but still. This is not easy."

"You whine too much." said Shinji. "Eating and walking isn't difficult it's just rude, but since we are in the forest I don't think anyone is going to care."

"I do not whine to much!"

"Enough you two." interrupted Rei. "It doesn't matter if it's hard or rude this is what he have to do. We can't loose all sorts of time fighting huge groups of demons."

"Yeah your right." said Asuka.

Just after Asuka finished eating(she took the longest) more demons appeared from behind the trees. The mob this time was about twice as large as the first. The demons looked much more vicious this time and it seemed as though that they were better able to fight.

"Are you kidding me with this!?" exclaimed Asuka. "How many time do we have to fight you stupid demons before you realize that your going to die? Your all a pain."

"I am starting to get sick of this as well." Shinji said with a sigh.

"We just have to end this quickly." said Rei. She held up here hand and summoned the bat demon. Its magic killed several demons before the had a chance to charge it. When they did she summoned other demons and destroyed the attackers with them. The ground was once again painted in blood.

"Wow those demons worked pretty well Rei, we barley had to do anything." said Asuka.

"Yeah well, lets get moving. I'm starting to get tired."

"Are you sure you want to walk then?" asked Shinji.

"Yeah of course, I'll feel better if I walk."

Rei, Asuka and Shinji walked away from the bloody scene hoping that there would be no more attacks that day. It was approaching night and they did not have to loose sleep because of these demons.

After a short while of walking the sun set on the horizon and night came. Rei, Asuka and Shinji finally stopped walking and began to settle down for the night. They laid down their cloth to sleep on and sat down to eat. Rei was just about to summon her demon to start a fire when they heard voices off in the distance.

"Well well," said a voice echoing through the trees, "I don't think you should be resting."

"I concur." said another voice. "That wouldn't be very fun."

"You have got to be kidding." said Shinji. "A whole day isn't enough now we need more."

"Damn." Rei thought to herself. "I'm too exhausted after summoning all those demons. I don' think I can fight anymore today."

"Well Roku, what shall we do to them."

"I think, Go, we should at least let them see us. That way they know who killed them."

"I'm surprised. That's very nice of you."

"Yes I've been trying to be nicer to my victims."

"Maybe we should just kill them. It will be more amusing."

"Show yourselves damn it!" yelled Asuka.

"Now now no reason to scream at us."

Two people appeared up in a tree in front of them. The team looked up at them standing on guard ready for them to attack. The two in the tree stepped off the branch and slowly descended as if they were being lowered down. They silently landed on the ground making no indentation in the snow, they stood on top of it as if they were weightless.

"Good evening." they said in unison. "We shall be the ones to kill you tonight."


	7. Chapter 7

The evil duo stood together on the snow with evil smiles on their faces. One of the twins had crystal armor covering his legs, left arm and half of his torso, it went from his left shoulder diagonally to his right hip. The others covered his legs stopping at his waist. He wore a haori jacket to cover his body but he left it untied.

"Who are you?" asked Rei.

"We are your executioners." said the twin with the jacket.

"That's not what she meant, she wants your names." said Asuka.

"Why of course how rude of us." replied the same twin. "I am Go and this is Roku. We are fellow servants of Shinigami. Are job is simply to kill you and nothing else."

"So you were the ones sending all those demons after us today." said Shinji.

"Very good." said Roku.

"How did you figure that out?" asked Go.

"I didn't, you just told me."

"This one is very clever." said Go.

"Maybe we should play a game with him." said Roku.

"Good suggestion." replied Go.

"Ok these two are annoying." said Asuka.

"Mildly." agreed Rei.

"And that's why you two wont be apart of this game." said Go.

"So what is this game?" asked Shinji. "You have peeked my interest."

"It's a very simple game." replied Roku. "All you have to do is solve a few puzzles. If you loose your teammates die."

"And if you loose?" asked Shinji.

"Then we die." said Go.

"Sounds good, lets begin."

Go and Roku looked at each other and laughed. They put their hands together curling in their last two fingers and left their first two extended, they then began to chant.

"Shinji are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Rei.

"No, but you are to tired to fight right now. It should be fine, I'm observant enough not to be tricked and can solve almost any puzzle. But, incase I mess up, if you or Asuka see an opening to strike take it, forget about honor here, ok."

"Shinji. I know these two are stronger than Nana, but I have faith in you. I wont need to undercut you. I trust you with are lives."

"Thank you Rei."

Go and Roku finished their chant and they and Shinji were engulfed in a dome of darkness. Inside this space Shinji could see only a short distance in front of him. He could not tell if he was in a very large or very small space. A smile grew across his face.

"Most people don't smile when they end up in here." said Go.

"Most people don't find it interesting." replied Shinji.

"You find this interesting?" asked Roku.

"Well of course. I think all things I don't understand are interesting. That's why you two are boring."

"What did you say?" asked Go.

"You two aren't interesting." replied Shinji. "Annoying twins who uses their wit to try and mess with peoples minds. The switch talking must really help with that. There are other things I've learned about you two already, but lets save that for later."

"You think yourself a genius don't you?" asked Roku.

"Could be."

"Well then, lets play are first game." said Go.

Go and Roku appeared in front of Shinji and sat down. Shinji followed suit and took a seat. Roku lifted his left hand and a shogi board appeared before him. Go lifted his right and the pieces appeared on the board.

"Today we shall start off with a simple game of Shogi." said Go. " If you loose we shall take one thing from you as a handicap for the next challenge."

"May I inquire as to what you will take?"

Go and Roku looked at each other and smiled. "We will take your sight." said Roku."

"Sounds fair."

Shinji sat perfectly still waiting for the game to begin. Go and Roku operated as one team but did not speak. It was if they could converse mentally. Shinji kept his perfect posture and only moved his right hand to move a piece on the bored. His face never changed from a smile during the whole game. The game was quite long as both teams were skilled at the game. Each took good time to think before each move calculating the results. Eventually Shinji was put into checkmate and defeated by the twins.

"Oh too bad." said Go.

"Your sight is ours." said Roku.

"What a shame." Shinji said with his usual smile, his form had still not changed from the start of the game.

Shinji magically lost his sight and still he maintained his smile. He calmly closed his eyes since thy had no purpose being open. And his smile grew by a small fraction.

"There is good news." said Go.

"If you win the game as a whole you will get back what you lost. It is only permanent if you loose." said Roku

"Good to know."

"Shall we move on?" asked Go.

"Lets." replied Shinji.

"Your next challenge, I'm afraid, will be impossible without your sight." said Roku.

"Is that so?"

"Yes." replied Go. "Here you must be able to navigate a simple path, but the clue on how to do it is written down, you have to solve the riddle to pass."

"Interesting." said Shinji.

Shinji walked toward the path that Go gestured to. He walked calmly as if he could see and began to step in odd locations of the path. He jumped from spot to spot as if avoiding a hole, the whole time his hands behind his back. After only two minutes he reached the end of the path and turned around to Go and Roku.

"Your game was there were only a select few places I could walk, but the path look entirely solid. Not a bad trick, the riddle must have been nice. Since I solved this game what do you loose?"

Go and Roku were slightly annoyed by Shinji's smugness. "What do you think we should loose?" they asked.

"I'd be happy if you lost your left arms." said Shinji.

"Very well." said Go and their arms were bound to their sides.

"The next game will also be of considerable challenged." said Roku. "We shall bring your friends into this world. Two of each shall appear one real and one fake. You must kill one before the time expires."

"Amazing that is fun. I could end up killing my friends here."

Go thought to himself. "Little does he know that there shall be a small physical difference between them. Since he can't see he shall never solve it."

"Oh I have a question." said Shinji.

"Yes?" asked Go.

"What are the terns of this game? What do I loose besides my friends here?"

"Well first you might not loose your friends. If you let the clock expire you will only loose something of yours. Let's see, how about your arms? That seems fair." said Roku.

"The arms I still hold behind my back?" asked Shinji.

Go and Roku cringed slightly. "Yes." said Go.

"Is there a limit to what I can take? Does it have to be physical?"

"No the only limit is your imagination." replied Roku.

"Excellent." said Shinji. "Then if I win you loose you bond. You must stand no less than twenty feet apart."

Roku and Go eyes widened in shock. "If you are sure that is what you want." said Go. He snapped his fingers and a set of Rei and Asuka appeared in front of Shinji. "Now pick which one you will kill. You have two minutes."

All the Asuka's and Rei's looked around surprised at where they were. "What the hell? Where are we?" called one of the Rei's.

"I don't know." said and Asuka. "We must be where they brought Shinji."

"I'm over here." Shinji said calmly.

"Oh good." said a Rei.

"Shinji what is going on here?" asked an Asuka.

"Oh nothing. I just have to decide which one of each of you is the real one and kill the other. Hope I don't mess up."

"Shinji you idiot you better not kill me!" yelled an Asuka.

"I trust you Shinji." said the other Asuka.

"Shinji." said a Rei. "Do you have a plan here?"

"Of course. I actually already have it figured out."

"That's impossible." said Roku. "There is no way without your sight."

"Really?" asked Shinji. "You mean I was not supposed to notice the difference in their physical appearance?"

Go and Roku both stood in shock.

"What it wasn't that hard." said Shinji. "Rei has a necklace and her copy doesn't. I noticed that when they looked around to see where they were. Asuka you gave arm guards, small ones yes, but noticeable. That's not actually how I figured it out though."

"What do you mean?" asked Go trying to stay calm.

"Are you serious?" Shinji asked in amazement. "When they showed up the fake Rei was shocked. That wouldn't happen. The fake Asuka was calm, also not happening."

"How then did you notice the other changes?" asked Roku

"When Rei moved the necklace made a small sound, it was absent on her copy. Asuka's copy has slightly different muscle contractions when she moved due to the added weight of the armor."

Roku and Go almost gasped at this information.

"And you two are also having fun reactions." Shinji said as he walked toward his friends. He silently killed the fake Rei and Asuka. The real ones disappeared back to the real world. "Increased heart hate, elevated breathing, and a sense of panic at what will happen to you."

"Yeas you win, we shall now separate." said Go. Go and Roku walked away from each other and stood on opposite sides of Shinji, with twenty feet in between them.

Shinji smiled more. "Perfect now I have this game won."

"What do you mean?" asked Roku with a hint of anger.

"You think I didn't figure it out? A majority of your power is bound by your birth connection. When you two stand close together your power is greater, when you are apart it lessens."

"You think you can beat us by pulling us apart? It wont work." said Go.

"Ah see, you just lied there. What you don't know about me is how well my ears work. Small differences in speech pattern, heart beat, breathing, and even muscle contractions are all heard by my ears. It works the best when my eyes are closed and I focus on it. Since here I have no sight, it is amplified to its highest ability."

"So loosing that game was advantageous to you?" said Roku, his anger rising.

"Not only advantageous but preferred. I could have won that game at several points most specifically at turn nineteen and move forty-five, I lost that game as to gain my true power here. Since these games cam be easily won by sight you thought you had me, too bad."

"Fine," said Go, "the next game shall be are last. If you loose we take your hearing."

"Oh no I don't think that will happen." said Shinji with a bigger smile.

"What did you say?" asked Roku, now very angry.

"I'm going to kill you, your game has lost it's interest."

"What?" exclaimed Go.

"Its simple really. You two cannot come with twenty feet of each other. That means I only have to kill one of you at a time, much easier."

"How pathetic!" screamed Roku. "Have you no pride as a warrior?"

"None what's so ever." said Shinji calmly. "I am a soldier of the shadows, we kill in the easiest way possible. The idea," Shinji said as he started to walk towards Roku, "is to sneak up behind your target," Shinji said and then vanished. Go and Roku looked around for him. Shinji then appeared behind Roku, "and stab him in the heart." Shinji thrust the blade in his left hand threw Roku's back puncturing his heat. His right blade cut his throat from right to left in a thrusting fashion. Both happened at the same time and Roku made no sound, Shinji kept his smile.

The dimension that Shinji had been transported to faded away as Roku fell to the ground an his blood sprayed out of his neck. Go leaped at Roku and Shinji, the distancing effect of the realm being nullified as it disappeared. Shinji jumped away and he noticed Rei and Asuka standing exactly where they were when he went into the darkness.

"Shinji what happened?" asked Rei.

"I killed the weaker one, sorry but I thought Go there could have stopped me."

Asuka and Rei looked at Roku who was dead on the ground. Go was standing over him staring at the dead body. Roku's human body started to fade away into dust and the demon armor collapsed in on itself. Go lifted his head and look at the team, his eyes narrowed with hate.

"You will all die here." he said with anger. "Roku and I will kill you."

"Did I miss something here?" asked Shinji. "Did I not just kill him?"

"Hahaha, you think we can die so easily?" Go bent down and grabbed a small piece of Roku's demon armor. It glowed in his hand and then he ate the piece. Go's body glowed red and his back hunched. When he straightened up his head faced the sky and he laughed again. "No we shall kill you."

"What the hell is happening?" asked Asuka scared.

"No idea." responded Rei.

"It's interesting though." said Shinji.

"I'm glad you think so." replied Asuka.

"To satisfy your curiosity human I will tell you what is going on here. Roku and I are the same person, only are minds are different and eve those were connected with these demons. That which I ate was Roku's heart combined with that of the demons. We became one being on every level, are powers merged."

"That sounds bad." said Asuka.

"Damn." said Rei. "Nana was bad enough in a fight and both of them were stronger. Now them in one body, will we be able to win?"

"This combination is very dangerous." interjected Go. "Unfortunately I will reject it shortly so I have to kill you before I do."

"So we just have to live for a while longer." said Shinji.

"I can live with that." said Rei.

"Rei," said Asuka, "try that move that you used to kill Hachi."

"Oh that sounds fun." said Shinji.

"Sure." Rei drew her sword and held it level in front of her. She then began her movement and made a circle of images around Go.

"Ah this move." Go responded. "You think this will work on me like it did on Hachi? Your wrong I'll stop it."

"We'll see." said Rei as she expanded the circle to fully surround Go in a dome shape.

"Wow that is amazing." said Shinji.

Rei kept up her dance and Go stood calmly in the center. Rei chose her time of attack and made her move. She struck on his left side at his neck. Go had raised his hand and blocked it. Asuka was in shock when she saw Rei in mid air stopped by Go. Shinji's smile lessened slightly.

"Your attack involves going from a purely defensive stance to an offensive one. In that time that you switch there is a laps, I can see it and raise my defense. Don't put me on the same level as Hachi."

Rei landed and jumped back. Shinji and Asuka ran over to assist her.

"Now this isn't fair," said Go jokingly, "three on one is mean. How about we even things up." Go held up his right hand and summoned a large demon from the earth. It was a four armed demon like before only it was much bigger, about twice the size of a human. "My demon, I again offer myself to you. Take this body and grant it your power." The demon picked up Go and pushed him into its chest. The demon glowed and transformed into Go, he was now as large as two people.

"Oh shit." said Asuka.

"This is different." said Shinji. "Had no idea he could do that."

"I will kill you all with this next attack." bellowed Go.

He took all four of his swords and put them together. The formed into one blade and he swung it across his body to his outside. Rei, Shinji and Asuka were barley able to avoid it. Shinji jumped up and Asuka jumped back. Rei disappeared and could not be accounted for.

"What?" bellowed Go. "Where is that girl?"

"Here." Rei said.

Go looked to where heard the sound and saw Rei standing, sword in sheath, on the end of his sword that he was still holding out to the side. He tried to stop her by dropping his sword, but as he did Rei leapt at Go. She drew her sword out, cutting his neck in the same motion. She continued passed the target and avoided the blood spray from his neck. Rei was on the ground and Go fell. Unfortunately Go was not dead. He reverted back to his original size and was completely unscathed.

"Damn it!" yelled Asuka.

"Did you really think I would die so easily?" asked Go.

"I was hoping." said Rei.

Go looked at Rei and then jumped in a different direction at Asuka. Asuka avoided the attack and swung with her spear. Go grabbed it and pulled hard bringing Asuka in at him. He held up his hand, finger pointed as if to stab her. Asuka, using the spear, flipped over and avoided the attack. She continued to flip over and kicked Go in the back of the head. He let go of the spear and fell forward. Asuka immediately took her spear back and lunged at Go trying to skewer him when he was off balance. He countered the attack with a kick to the stomach.

"Asuka!" yelled Rei as she landed several feet back after the kick.

Go lunged at Rei next and she blocked using her sword. From the ground Asuka called, "I'm fine." and she stood up, slightly labored. Rei threw Go back.

"Damn you." said Rei.

Rei took a stance holding her sword parallel at her side with both hands. Go stood with both hands level with the ground, fingers pointed straight, his arms pulled back. They stood still for only a moment and the ran at each other. As Rei and Go were about to strike each other Go was stabbed in the side, below the ribs. Rei stopped in her tracks and saw Asuka standing there with her spear in Go. Go's arms went limp and he growled in pain. Still holding onto the spear Asuka walked up to Go and kicked him in the head pushing him off the spear.

"That's for kicking me you bastard."

Go stood back up holding his side and store angrily at Asuka. He disappeared and Asuka calmly turned her spear around and held the point up at an angle behind her. Go landed on the point impaling himself just underneath the ribs in the front of his chest. He coughed up blood and it covered Asuka's shoulder. Go died on the spear and his body disintegrated causing his armor to fall to the ground.

Shinji and Rei ran over to Asuka who was still standing motionless.

"Asuka that was amazing." said Rei full of joy. "Are you ok, how did you do that?"

"I'm in pain from that kick and I'm finally used to seeing you people move like that. I can't do it but I can sure as hell see it."

"That's amazing." said Shinji.

"Don't you mean interesting?" asked Asuka.

"Good point." he said with a laugh.

"Well that's three of them down." said Rei. "Now we have to deal with the rest of them."

"The bad part is I think that Nana guy will still be challenging." said Shinji.

"Huh, why?" asked Asuka.

"Go was pissed over me killing his brother so he wasn't thinking straight. I did I good job of making that so when they were playing with me. If Nana doesn't fight like an idiot than he might be more challenging."

"No way, Rei almost had him without using her sword, he won't be a problem." responded Asuka and then dropped to one knee.

"Asuka!"

I'm fine." she said. "That just really hurt. We are sleeping somewhere close, I'll be fine by tomorrow."

"Alright." said Shinji. "Lets go sleep somewhere that isn't coated in blood."

Shinji turned and walked away from the bloody scene toward a place to sleep. Rei helped Asuka walk so she wouldn't have to strain herself. They didn't walk very far, only about one hundred meters, and then they set up to sleep again. All three fell asleep instantly.

The next morning Rei was the first one awake, she had regained her strength that she had lost the day before. Asuka and Shinji were still sleeping soundly, she knew that she could wake Shinji up, but Asuka might be more of an issue. She wanted to make sure Asuka slept off the injury from the night before. As Rei started to gather her things Shinji appeared in front of her with the happy smile of his.

"Do we really have to go already? We had a great victory last night, we should sleep in."

"Even if you say that it doesn't carry much weight since your awake."

"You know I can sleep anytime."

"Yeah."

Shinji looked over at Asuka who was still sleeping. "She fought amazingly last night. I've never seen someone who can see that much faster than they can move."

"Yeah, Asuka sure is something." Rei said with a smile. "Shinji, how did you kill Roku so easily last night?"

"I wonder?" he said looking up in the air as if confused.

"Com on Shinji don't mess with me tell me."

"Ok sure." Shinji told the entire story of what happened inside the alternate dimension. He was very descriptive, making sure every detail was clear. Even when he described his attack on Roku he was specific, saying exactly what organs and arteries he cut. The whole while with his smile.

"Wow that's quite impressive."

"Thank you."

Both chuckled. They enjoyed talking with each other and Rei liked it when Asuka was not there, or awake in the case, to be upset by it. Just then Asuka did wake up ending the happy moment between the two.

"I didn't sleep to late did I?"

"No your fine Asuka." replied Rei.

"Good, I don't want to hold us up."

"How do you feel after that kick yesterday?" asked Shinji

"My rib is a little sore, but other than that I'm fine. We'll be able to go today without me slowing you down."

"Good because otherwise we'd have to leave you behind." said Rei joyfully.

"Hey that's not nice."

Rei and Shinji were laughing together at the mornings joke.

"That's not nice you guys. Let's just get going."

"Ok Asuka, sure."

The next several days went without major incident. There were the occasional demon attacks, but no encounters with the evil group who had been attacking them. Even though the fighting was pretty regular Rei, Asuka and Shinji preferred it over fighting really strong opponents and getting injured. After a few days they finally arrived at their destination, the town that apparently had no name. When they entered the village they noticed something strange.

"This is odd," said Shinji, "it doesn't look like anyone has been here for ages. I don't sense the slightest amount of life here."

"Yeah, it's kind of creepy." said Asuka. "Are we sure people actually live here?"

Rei stood silent as if in a trance. Her eyes were blank and she looked off into the town.

"Rei, are you ok?" asked Shinji.

No response.

"Rei?" Asuka asked slightly worried.

Again, no response.

"This could be bad. Asuka do you have any idea what is going on?"

"None, I've never seen her like this."

Rei started to walk forward without making a sound and without a change in her facial expression. Asuka moved to stop her, but was stopped by Shinji. He simply shook his head in disapproval. Asuka and Shinji calmly followed Rei to wherever she was going. Rei walked to the center of the deserted town and into a small building. Inside the building she opened a small door in the floor and started down the stairs.

"She's in a trance and it's leading her somewhere." said Shinji.

"Don't think that's good!" exclaimed Asuka. "It's either a trap or something to do with Shinpishugisha, we should be careful."

"Why? If it's the latter we have nothing to worry about."

"You calmness is getting on my nerves, let's just follow her."

"Well yeah."

Shinji and Asuka ran after Rei following her into the hidden staircase. The staircase had to have gone three stories down under the ground. When they reached the bottom they realized that the underground room was a large library full of shelves completely full of book Rei had stopped in front of one bookcase, frozen.

Shinji and Asuka ran over to her and Asuka grabber her by the shoulders. "Rei are you ok? Snap out of it."

Rei blinked and regained control of herself. "Where am I?" she said confused.

"Really Asuka? This obviously wasn't a trap, you couldn't let her go so we could find out exactly what she was being led to?"

"I'm glad you wee so concerned about her. Try this, next time instead of being so interested in what you can learn, be concerned about your friend!" Asuka Barked back.

"I was, it's just hard to tell because to don't react like you."

"Enough." said Rei. "What the hell happened and where the hell am I? Please explain as best you can."

"You wee I a trance and it led you down, underneath a building to a hidden library."

"Ok, thank you. So, why do you think?"

Shinji walked toward the bookcase. "If we were right it has something to do with you being a Shinpishugisha." Shinji took one of the books off the shelf and opened it. "Asuka and I are correct. This is I library of Shinpishugisha text." Shinji turned the book out so they could see it.

"Your right." said Rei. "That's the same writing as that tablet in your fathers' lab."

"Hence my deduction."

"Can you read this stuff Rei?" asked Asuka.

"No unfortunately. But Shinji can right?"

"Well yes, but this is not easily translated. It would take me a couple of days to translate this book alone." Shinji pointed at the library. "As you can see I'd need a team to get anywhere close to all this translated within the next year."

"Well there must be a reason I was brought to this bookcase since I was brought her like that. If we could figure out which book I was looking at then we would have less work to do."

"That right." replied Asuka. "Lets see, she was standing here, looking like this." Asuka tried to stand as Rei was when they found her. "I have no idea where she was looking, I can see half the bookcase here."

"Rei you stand back how you were when we found you." said Shinji.

"Ok." Rei stood about where she was.

Shinji walked over and repositioned Reis' head to be pointing the exact way it was. "No look forward."

"Ok."

Shinji studied Reis' posture and eyes. He looked at the angle of here head and the focus of the eyes and calculated where she was looking. He reached up on the bookcase and grabbed three books off the shelf. "It's one of these I think."

"Well at least we have something to go on." said Rei. "What do you think, should we rest here a few days and let Shinji get started on the translation?"

"I couple days rest seems great." said Asuka. "Plus it's really warm down here."

"I'm good with the warmth." agreed Shinji.

"Ok, we'll stay here two days and then we'll move on. Does that work for everyone?"

"Yeah, I'm good with that." replied Asuka happily.

"It's not a lot of time, but I can get a good start." said Shinji.

"Ok you get on that I'm going to look around." Rei said and turned to explore the library.

"Wait Rei I'll come too." Asuka said and ran after her.

That night Rei, Asuka and Shinji were eating dinner and Shinji was still reading the book and translating it. He ate with his left hand while writing with his right. His gaze never left the book while he ate.

"Shinji, it's ok to stop working you know." said Rei. "I wont mind if not all of it is translated."

"I know, but it is all so interesting so I don't want to stop."

"And you didn't like our father that much? Your so much like him." said Rei

"I know we are the same. We only do things that we are interested in. What he was and is interested in I don't find so great, this I like."

"So if something isn't interesting than it's not important?" asked Asuka.

"Unfortunately yes." responded Shinji. "That's my character flaw."

"So than you really find what we are doing interesting?"

"I wouldn't be here otherwise."

"Are you sure Shinji?" asked Rei. "You really aren't here just because you can help the world? You don't think since it is possible and that you have power you should use it for good?"

"No. I feel no obligation as a man of strength to do any such thing. I find you two and the whole business with your Shinpishugisha power interesting. If you weren't than I would have stayed."

"I think your lying Shinji." said Rei. "What about you not liking your father and all that?"

"Good incentive, but still not enough of a reason. If it was I would have left years ago."

"Your so weird." said Asuka.

"Thank you."

The next day Asuka slept in, enjoying the fact that she could and that it was safe. Shinji stayed up the whole night working on the translation. Rei slept, but woke up at the same time as if she had to travel that day. When she awoke she walked over to talk with Shinji.

"You didn't sleep huh?"

"Nope, not at all."

"Maybe you should."

"No, a few all nighters wont kill me. I'm a soldier of the shadows remember? I'm used to this. What about you, why are you up so early?"

"Habit, I never slept much later than this most of my life so it is normal to me. It'd feel odd to sleep like Asuka."

"Makes sense to me."

Rei and Shinji sat in an awkward silence. Rei looked down at the floor as to avoid the situation. She looked at Asuka to make sure she was still sleeping and then looked back at Shinji. Shinji did not look up from the book and he still had his signature smile.

"Shinji.."

"It's ok." he interrupted. "Your still not sure so you don't have to say anything."

"But, I think….I think I want to."

"I'm not saying don't express your feeling, but you looked at Asuka first. I know you can't run your life off others, but if you think your decision will upset her that much than make sure she will be able to deal with it first."

"What are you saying?" Rei said slightly yelling. "You said I should tell you how a feel, but now you tell me to think about Asuka. I care for Asuka and I don't want to hurt her, but it's not like I'm going to live with her forever. She needs to understand that."

"Asuka grew up without a family, or at least, she spent most of her life without one. Then she met you, a person her age that could understand her. She has less experience with feelings than you do. It is only natural that a feeling of love would form between her and you. And she probably took the we'll live in the same town comment as something more than what it was."

"I know, but I don't want to loose Asuka. I want to live in the same place as her."

"But not live with her."

Rei gasped. She looked down at her feet again. "Yes. I want to clear up this mist from the world and one day have children of my own. That can't happen with Asuka."

"You see her as your best friend, she see's you as someone she loves. You don't want to shatter that and have her distance herself from you. Before we say anything more to each other you may want to clear things up with her." Shinji paused and his smile weaned for a brief moment. "Then we can both say how we feel."

"Ok, I'll wait until then. For now we are just friends." Rei turned to walk away. "Oh and Shinji. Make sure that you have a way to carry all of our work we leave tomorrow."

"Oh I thought I got a full two days to do this."

"No, we can't afford to spend more time here. We have to go tomorrow morning."

"Ok Rei."

Rei walked quite a ways away and sat up against a bookcase. She tilted her head back to look at the ceiling. She let her shoulders go limp and let out a sigh.

"Shinji that idiot." she said quietly. "I wonder if he heard that." Rei continued to look at the ceiling doing nothing, she was sad about what just happened, but she did not cry. She saw no reason in crying since she only had to wait, not forget outright.

Asuka woke up and looked around to see where everyone was. She saw Shinji in the same spot he was the night before. "Wow, has he even moved since yesterday?" she said out loud.

"Nope." said Shinji from where he was sitting.

Asuka was slightly shocked by the response. She had forgotten how well he could hear. Asuka then looked for Rei but did not immediately see her. She stood up and looked again, this time seeing a small part of her clothing sticking out from behind a bookcase. Asuka walked over and noticed Rei staring up at the ceiling. "Is something wrong Rei?"

Rei looked up at Asuka and corrected her facial expression. "No nothing. I was just wondering how there is light down here. There are no torches or anything just a glowing ceiling, almost like the sun."

"Yeah it is pretty cool." Asuka said having no clue that Rei was lying.

"Oh Asuka, we are leaving tomorrow morning. Make sure you are ready ok."

"Yeah ok." Asuka replied and walked away.

Several hours later, around noon, Rei brought some food to Shinji, who had still not moved from his spot on the ground.

"You know, it's not good for your body to just sit there all day."

"It will be fine." he said. "Unless sitting there for more than one day will really be bad."

"Just don't be too stiff when we go to leave tomorrow." Rei said and handed him the food. "Today we'll finish the food that Hikari made for us and it will be back to finding it again."

"Well that'll suck."

"At least now I wont feel so bad about killing something like a deer."

"You used to?"

"Well it would be pointless to kill one just for me, most of it would be wasted."

"Good point."

"Have you seen Asuka anywhere I have to giver her lunch as well?"

"Nope, haven't seen her. Looked a lot though." Shinji said sarcastically.

"Your right, that was a dumb question. I'll just go find her."

Rei walked through the library looking for Asuka. It wasn't until now that she realized just how big this place really was. She had no idea how it could have been built and kept hidden from anyone. After a few minutes of searching she saw Asuka off in the distance standing on her hands.

"Hey Asuka!" she called. "Lunch time!"

"Great bring it over!" Asuka called back still in a handstand.

"What's with the hand stand?" asked Rei.

"Just bored is all." Asuka responded falling back to her feet and turning towards Rei. "We can't have much food left can we?"

"No after today we have to find are own again."

"Is that why we are leaving tomorrow?"

"That's one of the reasons."

"Well anyway, thanks for the food Rei."

"Your welcome."

The rest of the day past and night came. Rei and Asuka slept soundly while Shinji continued to work on the translations. His drive to get information out of them was very strong. It was amazing that, even though he did nothing but read and write, he never yawned or showed any sings of boredom or fatigue.

The next morning when Rei awoke she turned and saw Shinji packing up the books. She woke up Asuka by shaking her shoulder and stood up to go talk with Shinji.

"I really thought you would be working until we left." she said.

"You said we would leave first thing in the morning, I don't want to hold anything up."

"Good." called Asuka from behind Rei. "Since we don't have to wait on you let's get going, we've got places to go and people to save."

"Alright." said Rei full of energy. "I can't argue with that logic. We're off."

* * *

In the dark room with the table and chairs there were two more empty spots. Now only five chairs were filled with Shinigami at the head. There was some slight mumbling among the members at the table.

"Those morons." boomed Nana. "I can't believe that they went and got themselves killed by those three."

"Would you have done much better?" asked the woman. "You are lower than them and the girl did do a number on you."

"Shut up! If I had been serious than there is no way she would have been able to harm me."

"Yes, but you weren't serious." said a soft voice. "You would have died if Shi wasn't there. Next time you might not have a chance like that. Don't mess up."

"Damn you San! How dare you.."

"ENOUGH." said Shinigami. "Your bickering is becoming annoying."

"Sorry master." said Nana. "I did not mean to insult you."

"Shinigami-sama, if I may ask, why did you not send me to stop Go from fighting?" asked Shi.

"ARE YOU UPSET ABOUT HIS DEMISSE, OR DO YOU ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT THESE PEOPLE?"

"Neither." said Shi flatly. "It was my understanding that I was to be in charge of the others while they were fighting so that you may have all your forces available for you plan. With three of them dead I don't see how I fulfilled that task."

"SO SINCE YOU WERE UNABLE TO SAVE THEM YOU FEEL USELESS?"

"No I just wonder why I have not served the purpose you appointed me. Roku was a fool, Go was skilled but blinded by emotion. Is that why you let them die?"

"YES."

"You are far too concerned Shi." said a bored voice. "If Shinigami doesn't care that they're dead than it's all fine."

"Do not belittle my job Ichi."

"I'm not, but worrying about the past is pointless." Ichi yawned. "This meeting is boring, I'm leaving." Ichi said getting up from the table and leaving the room.

"Why does Shinigami let Ichi get away with everything?" Nana asked angrily in his mind. "If I did that I would almost certainly be killed for my impudence. Damn him."

"I THINK THIS IS FINE FOR THE DAY. YOU MAY ALL RETURN TO YOUR QUARTERS. I HAVE YET TO DECIDE ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THOSE TROUBLESOME THREE."

"Yes sir." the remaining four said in unison and vanished from the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Rei, Asuka and Shinji left the underground room and walked out of the town. During their time there the weather had taken a turn for the worst. A large ice storm had come trough and everything was frozen over. The skies were dark and it looked as though another storm was on its way.

"I hope the next town is close," Shinji said, "because it may be our last stop for the winter. If the weather keeps doing that I wont be traveling anymore."

"Well if it's that bad then lets get moving." said Asuka bluntly.

They walked toward their destination, a large town a little further to the north. According to Kenji's map the town was called Sendai and it was to be their last stop on their trip north. After that they would work their way back south and then west toward Kenji's temple. Unfortunately if Shinji was right they would have to wait until spring for that to happen.

The day saw slow due to all the snow, ice and debris from the recent storms. The distance covered was only about half that it could have been. Even though they looked all day there was no sign of food anywhere. Normally this would have been fine, but after the steady supply of food their bodies expected it. The hunger pangs made it that much harder to travel.

That night when they set up camp and started a fire Asuka slumped down on the ground and moaned.

"Man this sucks. I want food. Isn't there a single animal that will actually walk around out here besides us?"

"There should be." replied Rei. "We may just have to wait a little longer than we wanted to eat."

"Yeah I know, but I really liked that food we were eating from Hikari."

"Yeah it was good."

"Hey Rei." interjected Shinji.

"Yes?"

"About how long do you think it will take to reach Sendai?"

"Well, based on the distance and the terrain that the map shows it should take about a week, but with all the trouble we're having it might take twice that."

"Twice that huh?" Shinji pondered for a moment. "How well can you two balance?"

"Um, just fine, what are you getting at?" replied Rei.

"It will be a little tricky, but I think I can speed up our travel time."

"Stop with the riddles already." said Asuka. "Just tell us your damn plan."

"Why with anger and glare and yelling?" Shinji said strangely. "Alright it is something I used to do in my training, we would jump between things like sign poles and roof tops, so I was thinking what if we jump from tree to tree?"

"What like monkeys?" responded Asuka.

"Basically. That way we wouldn't have to worry about all the crap on the ground. I mean there's stuff on the trees, but not as much."

"It's not a bad plan." agreed Rei. "We'd also be able to spot something to eat from up there."

"Well if it will help us get food I'm all for it." said Asuka. "Since we agreed I'm going to sleep." Asuka said rolling over on to her side.

"Yeah I should sleep too." said Shinji laying on his back.

Rei walked over to a spot on the tarp. Asuka and Shinji were sleeping on opposite sides, presumably started by Asuka as a way to stay away from him without being to obvious about it. Rei lay down between them and looked up at the sky. With only about a half a foot of space on either side of Rei between her and the others she rolled over onto her left shoulder, bringing her that much closer to Shinji.

The next morning Rei and Asuka woke up to find Shinji already awake holding something above a newly started fire.

"What you got there Shinji?" asked Asuka.

"I heard a small sound early this morning and realized that it was a snow rabbit. It isn't much, but at least we wont be empty."

"That hearing of yours sure is useful." replied Rei.

After eating their very meager portions the camp was cleaned up and the trace of their fire erased. Shinji stood in front of the group with a bigger smile that normal. His arms were held out to his sides and he looked as though he was about to present something amazing.

"Good morning everyone to your first day of tree-based travel. There are a few basics we need to go over before we can begin. First, this can be hazardous so be careful. The trees probably have some ice on the so watch your footing. Two, in order to do that we need to jump differently than normal. When we jump we must stretch our legs out in front of us like so," Shinji demonstrated his jump and land, "So we can see the branch we are landing on and if there is something we need to correct for. Three, the branch will bend due to your weight so land as softly as possible and absorb your force. Lastly, used the rebound from the branch and your own muscles to jump further and increase our rate of travel. Any questions?"

"Yeah," replied Asuka, "why did you have to do that? You could have told us normally."

"That would have lacked any and all humor." replied Shinji. "Ok lets go." Shinji jumped up into a tree.

"Lacked humor, what a pain he is." Asuka said jumping up, following Shinji.

"Come on Asuka you thought it was funny." said Rei and followed them into the trees.

After a while of tree jumping everyone was used to it. It slowly turned into a contest of who could jump further. Asuka's jumps were shorter than the rests but still quite good. Her best was about ten meters. Rei and Shinji were neck and neck for a while jumping gaps of twenty or so meters. After a while they had to stop and wait for Asuka to catch up. When she finally did they readied themselves for one last competition jump.

"So Shinji you ready to settle this?"

"You bet."

Rei and Shinji stood ready to jump and Asuka stood off to the side. She held her right hand straight up in the air.

"Ready. Set. GO!" she yelled swinging her hand down. The instant her hand fell Shinji and Rei disappeared.

About thirty or so meters ahead Shinji landed on a branch. His landing was silent and perfect. Standing straight up he looked around for Rei. A few meters a head of him Rei landed of a branch. Her landing was almost as good as Shinji's but it made more sound. The tree branch swayed and creaked from the force of her landing on it.

"Looks like I won." said Rei happily.

"That it does." Shinji replied.

Asuka jumped up to see who had won the contest. "Ha so Rei won I see. So she bested you at your own skill. Too bad."

"Yeah she jumped further, but my landing was better."

"We weren't competing on landings we were competing on distance."

"True, but the point of these is to travel covertly which requires silence. That tree made enough noise to wake up a village."

"Semantics I still won."

"Oh I'm not arguing that point, I'm just pointing something out."

"Ok you two, Rei won Shinji lost, can we keep moving?"

"Yeah lets go." said Rei.

The day passed and they covered a lot of round making up for what they lost the day before. When they finally stopped for the night Asuka again fell down onto the tarp.

"Man I'm tired. That took a lot more energy than I thought. Do we have anything else to eat?"

"Not right now." replied Shinji. "There aren't any creatures within catching distance."

"Damn I could really use some food right now."

"I know what you mean." replied Rei. "At least this way we should reach Sendai faster than I thought."

"That would be nice, then we can stay somewhere warm instead of on this crappy tarp."

"Asuka aren't you used to something like this you lived in a cave?"

"My bedding was more comfortable than this and after sleeping in Oshu for all that time I miss those beds."

"I think we're getting soft." said Rei.

"Maybe." said Shinji jokingly. "Anyhow, lets sleep so we can keep up this pace tomorrow."

"I'm all for that." Asuka said with a yawn, already curled up attempting to sleep.

Shinji and Rei laid down to sleep in the same pattern as the night before. Rei moved just a hair closer to Shinji hoping that it would go unnoticed by either of her friends. A small breath let out by Shinji told Rei that he was aware of what she was doing. She smiled lightly and drifted off to sleep.

It took two days but Rei, Asuka and Shinji were finally able to find food. It was a rather small deer that was also looking for food. Because of the snow it also was having no luck and was easy to catch. Asuka felt a little bad about killing a creature when it was unable to defend itself, but quickly got over it. They ended their day earlier than normal so they could enjoy their catch.

"I'm so glad we found food." said Rei as they were cooking the deer over a fire.

"Yes, two days using this much energy without any was a real drag." said Shinji in his usual happy tone.

"I still think it's weird that you always sound happy." said Asuka. "It wouldn't hurt to sound a little more human once in a while."

"Yes complaining can be useful, but it's also so annoying."

"I think that's what makes it useful." said Rei. "People get annoyed and do stuff to stop the whining."

"Yes encourage the annoying, that won't do anything except, I don't know, cause more annoying." Shinji said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Your perpetual happy can get annoying." said Asuka.

"Yes but the kicker here is you don't do things to stop it and then have it come back."

"No it stays, to be always annoying."

"Ok ok, now that the annoying argument is settled can we eat this, I'm hungry?"

"You bet."

Rei, Asuka and Shinji ate themselves full to the point where it hurt. As dumb of an idea as that was they felt it necessary to give themselves as much fuel as possible for the rest of the journey. They had no idea if they would be able to get food again. The next morning they still felt full from the night before, so the packed up and continued running through the trees.

Just before nightfall Shinji stopped and looked out ahead of the group. He was leaning forward slightly as if trying to extend his vision outward. He corrected his posture and looked at Rei and Asuka who were standing wondering why he stopped.

"We're almost there." he said. "We will make it before nightfall."

"Not if you don't get your ass moving." Asuka said with more joy than annoyance.

"Your right madam. Let us depart."

Ten minutes later they arrived at Sendai. There they saw a large wall around the city that would shield it from the mist. Unfortunately it looked as though the wall had recently been destroyed.

"Damn Sendai is covered in mist too." said Asuka.

"They did good with a wall though it must have worked quite well." replied Shinji.

"It worked for my village until Shinigami blew it up."

Rei, Asuka and Shinji walked up to the hole in the wall and saw that it was not blown away as Rei's villages wall was. This wall had a perfect piece taken out as if it was cut and the pushed over. Uncovering the fallen wall they inspected the cuts that were made.

"I don't think a sword made these." said Shinji.

"No. They look more like the windmills of Oshu that Shi cut down. The cuts are perfect and look like they offered no resistance to the cut. I think it was one of them that did it."

"You inspected the windmills after they were destroyed? Wow."

"Well all that guy did was swing his hand and they fell. It was odd. I didn't like the fact that he was able to cause such destruction without me being able to see it. I still don't."

"Makes sense. Well, shall we make are way in and save yet another village?"

"Yeah."

Inside the town the villagers were all controlled by demons of the mist. Rei, Asuka and Shinji stayed alert to stop them if they attacked, but they didn't. The controlled citizens were all sluggish and seemed to lack an desire to attack. This made it easier to search the town.

"I wonder why they don't want to attack." said Asuka.

"I'm not sure. I really don't know much about what happens when people are controlled like this." replied Rei.

"Well since we don't have to worry about it we are able to focus entirely on finding demons to clear the town with."

"That's good and all but I don't see or sense any demons anywhere." replied Rei.

"Your right." said Asuka. "In fact, I haven't seen any since we left the library."

"That is a little odd." said Shinji. "We usually fight like crazy."

"I don't like this at all." said Rei. "Lets spread out and search for anything in this town. If you find any demons or anything else that could be important make some noise."

"Alright." said Asuka.

"Sounds good." said Shinji.

Rei, Asuka and Shinji all ran off in different directions. For the entire night they searched and when morning came Rei called the others by summoning her fire demon and causing a minor explosion as her signal. Asuka and Shinji ran over to Rei hoping to hear some good news.

"This town is empty." said Rei. "The only demons in this town are the ones attached to the people. There are no signs of a battle or a struggle. Nothing showing that anyone resisted. It looks like when the wall came down no one reacted and they were just, taken over by the demons."

"Well that makes sense." replied Asuka. "As if you could miss a wall falling on your head."

"She's right though, there are no signs of anything else happening here. It appears as though they excepted this change."

They decided that standing out in the cold thinking about this was not beneficial so Shinji opened one of the houses and they went inside. They started a fire in the fire place and sat around it still thinking. After about an hour Shinji broke the silence.

"Maybe we're thinking about this backwards."

"What do you mean?" asked Asuka.

"Well wait long enough for me to get a thought out." he replied jokingly.

Asuka stuck her tongue out at him.

"There is a definite pattern to the mist, it is stronger at night than during the day. So during the day you are able to travel small distances for food or supplies right?"

"That's what my village did." said Rei.

"So maybe the fallen wall did happen after. If one of those people that work for Shinigami brought in the mist when the gate was open, and did it without demons or an attack then the people would not have run or been killed."

"That's a grand idea but then why destroy the wall?" asked Asuka.

"Because we would obviously come here and see it." said Rei.

"It may just be a demonstration of what they are capable of. To show us that they don't need to destroy anything to win. Bringing down the wall was probably just to make us use time and ponder this."

"What an annoying day." said Asuka.

"That still doesn't explain the lack of demons." said Rei.

"I don't yet have an explanation for that."

"What about a trap?" said Asuka. "Make us falsely secure and then attack us. They're evil they'll do anything."

"That's a good tactic." said Shinji. "Sounds like something I would do."

"So if that's it what do we do?" asked Rei. "If you were them what would you do Shinji."

"I personally would have either attacked when you stopped searching, so you would be mildly sleep deprived or." Shinji stopped.

"Or?" asked Asuka sounding concerned.

"Attack within the next few days."

"Well that's not so bad."

"Actually it's worse. They'll either attack while we're searching around for provisions or while we are sleeping. With both we will be off guard and possibly separated. They'd attack while we were as weak as possible."

"So what do we do!?" exclaimed Asuka.

"We sleep smart." replied Rei. "We sleep in shifts, two sleep while one stands guard. This way if they attack only one of us will be off."

"That's a good idea Rei, I was about to suggest it."

"I'm go glad you can still keep your humor in this."

"You seem fine as well."

"Am I the only one who's actually worried about this?" interjected Asuka.

"On that level, I think so." replied Shinji.

"There is either something wrong with the two of you or something wrong with me. I vote on you two."

"Sounds good." said Rei. "I'll take the first watch. We don't need food right away since we just ate so much yesterday. We'll have to wait it out."

"What makes us so sure they won't just let us starve?"

"We wont starve." said Shinji. "If they wait that long we'll find food as a group. Also I don't think they'd throw away the chance to kill us."

"Good point. Since Rei's watching I'm taking the sleep. Goodnight." Asuka said laying down using her hands as pillows.

"Something tells me this isn't as simple as we think." said Rei.

"No. they are probably going to wait until we have all had sleep. I'm not looking forward to this."

"Get some sleep and don't worry about anything. I wont let us get attacked while you sleep."

"Good to hear. Goodnight."

High above Sendai Shi and Nana stood in the air as if it were a floor looking down at the house Rei, Asuka and Shinji occupied.

"I think they figured out your plan Shi," Nana said smugly, "what are you going to do now?"

"The same thing that I planed." he replied with his usual lack of emotion. "Attack in twelve hours. Everything is still going according to plan. I did not miscalculate."

"Whatever you say. As long as I get to kill them this time I don't care what you do."

"You still need to think things through. If you attack as you did last time you will be defeated."

"If you didn't stop me last time I could have killed them." Nana replied angrily.

"Do not attempt to defy Shinigami's orders as last time. I did not report it out of respect for his plans, but if you do so again then I will do as I was instructed."

"Shi. Don't interfere with my fight."

"Nana, follow orders."

The shifts changed and Rei was allowed to rest. This time Shinji took watch letting Asuka get as much sleep as possible. Without a sound Rei lay down for sleep and Shinji sat up to be on guard. Rei went to sleep surprisingly well despite the possibility of attack. She was somehow able to calm herself down and sleep on the thought that it would be better for combat.

Eventually it was Asuka's tern to watch and Shinji woke her up. Asuka was happy for the sleep she had gotten and was ready to stand watch. Just when Shinji had changed places with Asuka they heard something from outside. Rei woke up from the noise and was instantly alert. All three jumped out of the house right as Nana crashed into it destroying the entire building.

"I'm surprised you were able to avoid that." he said confidently. "You wont be so lucky with anything else."

"You again." said Shinji. "What a pain. Are you aware that we already killed Go and Roku. I'm guessing that they are stronger than you are."

"You think so huh?"

Nana rushed at Asuka and attempted to punch her. Asuka avoided by dodging to the left. He instantly turned around and through a back fit at Asuka. Unable to avoid she braced for the hit, but it was stopped by Shinji. He had appeared between her and Nana and kicked his hand to stop it. From there he moved toward him and swung his knives for vital areas. The knives hit but caused no damage to Nana's body. He then kicked Shinji back and he landed on the ground.

"You thought that would work boy? There is no way a weak attack like that would cut me. I am Nana. My skin is as strong as iron, with my full power not even that Shinpishugisha girl can cut me."

"Man what a pain." said Shinji. "I'll just have to swing harder."

Asuka ran toward Nana and swung her spear at him. He let it connect to further show his strength and tried to kick Asuka. She jumped to avoid it and swung her spear down at his head. Nana blocked the attack and Rei sped past swinging her sword across his back. Nana reacted as if he had been cut, loosing his balance for a moment. Shinji then leapt in and cut for his neck. A cut appeared, not one that would cause death, but enough for pain.

Shinji stood behind Nana, Rei to his left and Asuka in front, landing from the air after Nana was cut. Nana's eyes were full of rage at what had just transpired.

"I see your iron skin is so effective." said Asuka in a taunting manner.

"Yes apparently iron is something Shinji can cut, who knew."

"Even worse Rei has enough strength to break your focus and cause you defensive power to falter. How pointless an ability if it isn't independent of you will." said Shinji.

"Why you brats, I'll kill you!"

Nana flashed and appeared in front of Asuka. When he appeared Asuka thrust her spear at him and it connected with his stomach. It did not cut and Asuka was hit in the head by Nana's fist.

"Asuka!" Rei yelled and flashed toward Nana. She appeared in the air to the right of Nana's head. He turned to attack, but Rei disappeared again and was behind him. She thrust her sword into his back aiming for his kidney. It made a shallow wound and Nana gasped in pain. Shinji appeared in front of him as he gasped and made three cuts to his chest by spinning. His spin was as fast as his step and blood sprayed from his cuts.

Shinji and Rei vanished again and appeared some ten feet away with Asuka. Asuka stood on her own and looked at Nana.

"Ok," she said confidently, "I've figured out how hard his skin is. I think I can cut it this time."

"Good." said Rei. "I figure you had to get one cut in before we killed him."

"Thank you."

"YOU BITCH! DON'T TAKE ME SO LIGHTLY!" Nana put his fists together in front of him and focused is energy. His body glowed and his wounds closed up. When he finished he looked up at his opponents. "Now for my full power. My skin is ten times stronger than it was there is no way you can cut it know."

"You want to give it a try Asuka?" asked Shinji.

"Why not."

Asuka ran at Nana as fast as she could. He laughed at her due to her lack of flash ability. As she came within range Nana coiled back to punch her and suddenly Shinji appeared and stepped on his face. Nana bent back from the force and Shinji casually jumped off his face. Asuka then stabbed Nana in the stomach. The blade did not cut.

"Hehe." Nana laughed and snapped forward swinging at Asuka. She barely avoided by ducking and rolling out of the way.

"Damn he really is strong now."

"I told you there is no way you can cut me."

"That has yet to be proven." said Shinji.

Shinji then disappeared and reappeared next to Nana. Nana swung at him but he vanished again. Shinji continued this pattern, disappearing and reappearing all around Nana. Every time he reappeared he was standing neutrally, his arms at his sides. The speed at which he moved was just sub that of Rei's. There were many images of Shinji around Nana and it was difficult to tell which one was the real Shinji.

"Now we can test to see if you skin really is impenetrable by my blade." Attacking similarly as before, using high speed rotation Shinji attacked Nana six times. Nana reacted to the force of the hits but no cuts formed. When Shinji landed he was kicked my Nana. He flew in an arch backwards and landed on the ground.

"Shinji!" Asuka yelled.

"I told you, you will all die here. There is nothing you can do to me."

"Again your wrong." said Rei. She stood a distance away from Nana in an attack stance. He sword was held in her left hand, parallel with the ground, blade up. He right hand was open near the tip of the sword out in front of her. "There is nothing my blade cannot cut."

Saying that she flashed toward Nana. He was unable to react to her speed and Rei thrust her sword into Nana. The sword pierced his sternum and traveled through his body. Still with the blade facing up it went straight through the center of his spine. The force of the strike caused a huge gust of wind behind Nana and it blew up debris from the destroyed house.

Nana swung at Rei's head and she flashed behind him to avoid it, leaving her sword in Nana's chest.

"YOU BITCH!" Nana yelled. "HOW COULD YOU CUT ME LIKE THIS!? AT THE VERY LEAST NOW I CAN KILL YOU WITH YOUR OWN SWORD!" Nana went to grab the sword but found only air, the sword was no longer in his chest.

"You can't just be abandoning your sword like that Rei." said Shinji who was standing to the back right of Nana holding Rei's sword.

"Shinji!" Rei said happily.

"Catch." he said throwing Rei her sword. She caught it with her right hand and stood up to attack again.

"DAMN YOU! Fine! I'll just have to use everything I have on you." Nana went to grab his sword from its sheath with his right hand. As his hand was about to grab the hilt it was severed half was up the forearm. Shi stood to Nana's right, his back facing him.

"I told you not to disobey orders."

Rei, Asuka and Shinji stood amazed at what had just happened. Shi, a comrade of Nana, had appeared and cut off his arm.

"DAMN YOU SHI!" Nana yelled thriving in pain, only his rage keeping him standing. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!? SHINIGAIMI SAID TO KILL THEM!"

"His current orders do not override your past mandate. Remember only those of rank four and above my unsheathe their weapons. Despite what you rank was it is now only seven. In disobeying your orders, your arm was cut as a punishment."

"Damn you Shi!" Nana yelled turning to him and swinging his left hand.

In and instant Shi pointed his right hand behind him and did, what appeared to be, place two fingers on Nana's forehead. Nana grunted and toppled backwards, a hole in his head made by Shi's attack. Nana's body crumbled into dust and his demon armor fell apart.

"Those who disobey orders shall be eliminated, no exceptions." Shi said blankly as if being asked for a reason. He looked at Rei. "That attack of your's was impressive. I will make a note of it for if we face each other in combat." he said as he turned to leave.

"Your not running away!" yelled Asuka.

"No Asuka!" Rei yelled trying to stop her, but it was too late. Asuka had jumped toward Shi and swung at his head.

Without turning around Shi grabbed the blade of the spear with his right hand. He pulled his hand over his head and threw it to his right. Asuka flew through the air and crashed against another building.

"I am not permitted to kill you here. If Nana failed I am simply to report to Shinigami. My only other order was to tell you these people are controlled by demons that can be used to clear the mist. If you want you can take the power from one and use the rest to free Sendai." Shi said and then silently disappeared into a shadow.

"What the hell was that about?" asked Shinji."

"Asuka!" Rei yelled and flashed over to where she had landed. "Asuka are you alright?"

"Surprisingly yeah." she replied. "He really didn't throw me that hard. It seemed like just enough to make me cover this distance."

"That Shi, is amazingly strong." said Rei.

"And driven." said Shinji. "It appears that he is one of the more important of Shinigami's underlings. He carries out orders without a second thought."

"Yeah, but why would they want us to know how to save this town?"

"Your right, that makes no sense." Asuka said standing up. "This will hurt tomorrow." she said holding her ribs.

"Well since we can we should free the town." said Rei.

Rei walked over to the closest villager and placed her hand on his forehead. Closing her eyes she spoke with the demon that occupied his body. "I wish for you to lend me your power." she said.

"_And why should I do such a thing?"_

"It was the reason for your creation. Because deep down you don't want to hurt humans. And because I am a Shinpishugisha, a demon whisperer."

"_With reasons like that I cannot refuse. If you promise to liberate my brethren from this hell than I will help."_

"I promise."

The possessed man glowed and the demon receded from his body. Rei felt the power of the new demon serge through her. The released villager looked around very confused.

"W - what's going on?"

"Just watch." replied Rei. Held her hand up in the air and channeled the energy of the newly acquired demon. The rest of the villagers stopped moving and stood up straight. Arching their heads back they looked up at the sky. The demons that controlled the released themselves and used their power to destroy the mist around the town.

The villager that had been freed first looked at Rei with utter fear on his face. "What the hell are you?"

"Do not worry, I am a Shinpishugisha, I have freed this town of the mist forever with the help of the demons."

"A Shinpishugisha!?" the villager said horrified. He fell over from fear and slowly tried to crawl away. He then turned around, stood up and started to run.

"Well that was odd." responded Shinji to the reaction of the villager.

"Yeah, haven't seen that one yet." said Asuka.

"Well it was bound to happen eventually. The stories do say that my people caused the mist. It's only natural that people would be afraid of me."

"Your taking it well." said Shinji.

"Once your own village disowns you for your heritage than everything else related to that is nothing."

"Good point."

Several minutes later the villager came back with many more villagers. He pointed at Rei and they all walked cautiously toward her. When they were about ten feet away the stopped. An old man came out from the group and spoke.

"I hear that you are a Shinpishugisha." said the old man.

"That is correct." replied Rei.

"I am the elder of Sendai and I humbly ask you to leave this place at once."

At the elders words half of the crowd started to yell as if in disgust. Another man stepped forward from the crowd he was much younger.

"Elder are you serious? He said that she saved us from the mist and you want to expel her? Would that bring more wrath? We should respect our savoir and let them lodge."

"No the Shinpishugisha cannot be trusted. Even if one has shown us kindness it does not undo the terrible atrocity that they committed. Remember who made the mist in the first place."

"Are you saying she is evil by default? You think this is true?"

"I am saying she cannot be trusted. Who knows what trickery she could be planning."

By this time the entire town was present. The town was split into a group that wanted nothing to do with Rei and one that wanted to be nice to her. After much arguing Shinji stepped forward.

"Be quiet." He said keeping his smile, but load enough to get everyone's attention. "My god that was annoying."

"Who are you boy?" asked the elder.

"I am Shinji from Oshu. I have some information that might sway your decision. This Shinpishugisha does not have free will. She is in fact my pet. From birth she was raised to follow orders and will only do as I say. She poses no danger to you. Myself and the red head are human. The weather makes it impossible for us to travel. Would you send a fellow human to die outside when you clearly have the ability to accommodate us?"

"If that Shinpishugisha only does as ordered than why did she speak to me?" yelled the man that Rei first freed.

"She has been given permission to answer questions when asked them. If you notice, she has not offered any input to you argument. She has no opinion to express and understands nothing other than following my orders. Please take this into account during your considerations."

The elder stepped forward. "Given the situation you are correct. We cannot let fellow humans out to die in the wilderness. All the same we collectively do not trust that Shinpishugisha. Since you can control her we will allow you to stay, but under some restrictions. This is my village if she disobeys anything I saw you will have to leave. If someone says you may not enter their store then leave that instant. Understand?"

"But of course sir." Shinji said bowing. "We would never go against the wishes of our hosts. Please treat us with kindness while we stay here."

The elder turned to the man who was arguing with him. "Since you desired her to stay you may decide where they are to live. It must be in a house who agreed with you."

"Yes elder of course." the man turned to Shinji. "Please follow me."

Shinji and Asuka walked side by side and Rei followed. Rei made no sounds and walked with perfect posture. Her face had no emotion, she acted the part of a tool.

"How could you say that about Rei?" asked Asuka quietly to Shinji.

"Look it was the only way to convince them to let us stay. They would have started to riot soon. It was the only thing I could come up with."

"You could have told them the truth."

"Truth often falls upon deaf ears when speaking to the ignorant."

"What?"

"Stupid people don't listen. It was easier to just make that up. Dumb people will believe it easier."

"Well here we are." said the man leading Shinji and the others. "This is where you will be staying for the time being. It is easier for me if I just put you all in one large room instead of separate ones. Is that ok?"

"That will be fine." replied Shinji.

"Ok the room is unfurnished so my wife will be back up with bedding shortly."

"Thank you very much for your generosity." Shinji and Asuka said at the same time. Rei stayed standing. "Rei thank the man." said Shinji as if he was ordering.

"Thank you." she said dryly.

"Ok well, I have to go." and the man left.

Shinji, Asuka and Rei walked into the room and sat down. Asuka was still upset at what Shinji did and Rei sat perfectly still. The mans wife came up and handed the bedding to Asuka. She thanked her and brought it inside. After they were sure no one was close enough to hear them they began talking.

"That was quite the plan you came up with Shinji." said Rei. "It's going to be hard to keep the act up for a long period of time."

"A good plan!" exclaimed Asuka. "he's basically put you down to the same level of a well trained dog. How is that great?"

"You want to go back outside in that weather and last the winter? I don't. This was the only way to get us to stay."

"Whatever. As long as you drop the act when we're in here. I don't want to spend the rest of the winter talking to a doll."

"She will don't worry." said Shinji. "We just have to keep it up while the villagers are around. You basically getting my training Rei. Only you have no practice before you put it into practical use. Don't blow it."

"Of course not Shinji, I'll do just fine."

"I can't stand how this turned out." whined Asuka.

Several days past and the ruse was kept up. Reluctantly the villagers allowed Shinji, Asuka and Rei to assist with repairing the village wall. Instead of building it anew the old wall was picked up and carefully put back into place. Lifting it off the ground too a great amount of ingenuity and manpower. When it was finally stood up, and secured so it would not fall over, several masons wet to work sealing the cuts. Shinji, Asuka and Rei left the work to the villagers after that.

That night the group was walking back to their inn, and, due to the sheared, Asuka and Shinji walked several steps in head of Rei. From behind them a man crouched in the shadows. He silently walked up behind Rei and when he was only a few feet away he charged her, thrusting a knife toward her back. Rei turned just enough to grab his hand with her left. The man stood motionless, stopped by Rei's grasp, and before he realized what had happened Rei turned and threw a punch toward the mans face.

"Stop!" Shinji barked.

Rei stopped her punch only a hairs width away from the man nose. He stood in shock as Rei stood there with a blank face, the face of her disguise, of only to follow orders.

Shinji walked over to the would be attacker and Rei stood where she was, holding onto the mans hand with the knife and her punch almost at his face. "Did you really think that would work?" asked Shinji. "Of course someone like this is trained to counter an attack on herself, but did you think I would allow that to happen?"

The man stood silent frozen by fear of not only Rei but Shinji as well.

"Let's see, you planned to attack this Shinpishugisha, get beaten up quiet badly, and then tell the town that you were attacked without provocation. Did you want us just to leave or did you want the town to kill her? Answer sir."

"Answer you idiot." said Asuka who was still facing the way they were walking.

"This monster needs to leave." said the man his voice rattling with fear. "If I had to die to make that happen I would. Someone who's ancestors almost destroyed this would cannot be allowed to walk this earth."

"My god you're an idiot."

"Now now Asuka that's not nice." said Shinji. "She's right though." Shinji put his hand on the man's shoulder. "So…. Are you going to tell anyone what happened here tonight?"

"N-no." the man stammered.

"I didn't think so." Shinji said. The man then fell in a weak lump to the ground. Rei still stood as she was only letting go of the man's hand. "Come on Rei, we're leaving."

"Yes sir." she responded blankly.

Back at the inn Shinji, Asuka and Rei sat alone in their room drinking tea. Rei was glad to be out of the "trance state" as they called it.

"I must say we are getting pretty good at this whole thing." said Asuka. "how was that added effect of me just standing there?"

"I liked it." replied Shinji. "Very manipulative bitch. And Rei, great job on the emotionless order following. And staying in one spot until I said so, just perfect."

"Thanks, I can learn new skill really fast. What did you do to that guy anyway?"

"Oh just a little trick to make him pass out and make his memory foggy. He wont be sure if what happened was real or a dream."

"Is that one of you shadow warrior trick?" Asuka asked making hand gestures.

"Why yes it is."

"This whole situation is doing wonders for your friendship."

"Well since I can't talk to you I have to talk to somebody."

"I'm glad I can be the convenient substitute for your daily speaking requirement."

"Hey don't say it like that, I'm being nice to you aren't I."

"Your right."

"So anyway, how much longer are we just going to waste time like this?"

"What do you mean Rei?"

"Well since we're here we should use the space and free time to train. Things are only going to get harder now that we've killed off the four weakest of those guys."

"Yeah your right. Do they collectively have a name, because it's kind of annoying just saying those guys like that?" said Shinji.

"Well I suppose we could arbitrarily assign them a name." said Asuka.

"Ok, like what?"

"I don't know I've come up with my ideas for the day."

Shinji and Rei laughed. "I didn't realize you had a limit on those." said Shinji.

"I just don't feel like thinking anymore. I want to go to sleep."

"Then good night." said Rei. "I really think we should start training tomorrow so we aren't wasting time."

"Sure, but I'm sleeping first."

In the remainder of their stay they received no trouble from other villagers. Apparently only one was stupid enough to try and invoke an attack. Shinji, Asuka and Rei spent much time training to improve their skills. Asuka spared with Shinji most of the time and Rei stood off to the side, being careful not to allow the villagers to see how she really was. Rei did fight but before hand Shinji gave an order to do so. It wasn't necessary as the villagers mostly stayed way from them and they trained in a part of town not visited much. Everyone's skills vastly improved over their stay in Sendai. After a few months winter was coming to an end and the storms had ceased, now they were able to leave Sendai and continue their journey.

"I'm so glad we can finally get going again." said Asuka. "I was getting so bored with that town."

"Yes it did get old, but at least we got some training in." said Shinji. "If we hadn't done that this stay would have been a waste."

"True, but now we have to go." said Rei. "We have to get to Kenji's temple."

"And why is that exactly?" asked Shinji.

"My master came from there so it has a significance to me. Also the Abbot there new about me and sent Kenji to train me. Someone there must be able to help us out with our mission."

"So sentimentality and assistance. I can live with that."

"Good." said Asuka. "Now can we go?"

"Right!" said Shinji, still acting as the leader. "Of to our next destination."

Shinji, Asuka and Rei left Sendai glad to be able to drop the act they had been holding for so long. No one, not even the villagers that liked them, were there to see them off. They left as silently as they had came and the town continued on as if they were never there and the mist had never been a problem.

* * *

After the fight with Nana Shi vanished into the shadows and came into Shinigami's castle. The remaining three warriors were standing around with little to do and Shinigami sat in his throne. The room was lit with blue light being emitted from seemingly nowhere. Shi took a few steps forward and spoke to Shinigami.

"Due to Nana's failure the information has been delivered to the Shinpishugisha and her friends. Sendai is out of our control."

"GOOD, THE PLAN IS PROCEEDING AS EXCEPTED."

"If I may ask Shinigami-sama why did we let that town go? I mean we only just took that wall down a few years ago." said San in his soft, intelligent voice.

"THE REASON IS GOOD I ASSURE YOU. THOSE DEMONS THERE WILL DO SOMETHING MOST INTERESTING TO ARE LITTLE ANNOYENCE."

"Well that's good." San replied. "Now there are only four of us though. I'm not sure if I can take another team members demise. It's so horrible." he said sarcastically.

"Your ramblings are trying." said Ni.

"Man do women get annoyed easily."

"Quiet you!"

"Enough," said Ichi with his hand on his forehead, "the four of us are more than Shinigami needs. We just actually need to kill them next time."

"YES WHICH WILL PROVE EASY IF SHI COMPLETED HIS TASK. DID YOU DO AS INSTRUCTED SHI?"

"Of course Shinigami-sama. The details of their fighting style, attack patterns, strength, speed and attacks used during the last battle. I have it all for you."

"GOOD WITH THIS THEY WILL FALL WITHOUT FAIL. SAN, YOU WILL BE THE NEXT TO FIGHT THEM. HOW DOES THAT SOUND?"

"Nothing would make me happier. Unless of course you order me to completely destroy them, then I would be sad."

"AS LONG AS THEY DIE YOU ARE FREE TO DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH THEM."

"Thank you." San said bowing. "Is there a time when you would like me to attack?"

"WHENEVER SUITS YOU BEST IS FINE."

"Thank you sir."

Shi stepped forward and relayed the information that he gathered. The remaining warriors grinned in excitement over their next encounter with their enemies.

AUTHORS NOTE: Sorry it took so long to update, I didn't have time to write anything at school and they wont let me upload stuff to the sight while I'm there. I'll do my best to get more up as fast as I can, but no promises. With only four evil minions left the action is about to heat up. I hope you are looking forward to how the story plays out and are wondering what's up with the freeing the town thing.


	9. Chapter 9

After Rei, Asuka and Shinji departed Sendai they headed south towards Kenji's temple. The route they chose was the most direct with no towns or villages on the way. Rei's best guess, if they avoided all obstacles and traveled over as level terrain as possible, the journey would take about a little less than a month.

"A month!" said Asuka in surprise. "Why did we go all the way up here if it would take us that long?"

"Well going this way is actually faster than any other route. This is the only way we can avoid going over mountains and really increasing our time."

"A month sure is a lot of walking."

"Thank you for that Shinji you provide such useful information."

"No need to be rude Asuka. What I mean is there is no point complaining, all it is walking."

"Yeah whatever."

"So Rei, do you really think that anyone at this temple will actually be able to help us? I mean if they could tell when you would be born couldn't they have also seen where the source of this mist is? And told you."

"Sure they'll be able to help us. And how am I supposed to know how magic visions work? I'm not sure if you get that much detail. But, someone there surely will be able to give us a clue, or some assistance in someway."

"Well at least your positive."

"Anything else is self defeating right?"

"That's right."

"Hey you two hurry up." Asuka called from up ahead. "Your chatter is slowing you down."

"Sorry, we're coming." Rei called back, picking up her pace and catching up to Asuka. Shinji did the same.

The snow around Sendai had lessened quite a bit since last they tried to travel the area, but there was still a white covering on the ground and trees. While traveling by tree as in the year before would have been much easier than walking Rei would not allow it as the tree's would be used by many animals and their newborns as spring approached. Spring also meant finding food would be much easier. Traveling now would get easier instead of harder.

Later that day Rei, Asuka and Shinji completed their first successful hunt of the year. While the catch was only a few small rodents that had come out early, they were very happy to be able to acquire food with such ease.

"This is great, we probably wont have to go stupid lengths of time before we find food again." said Asuka happily as they waited by the fire for their food to cook.

"Yes with the seasonal change and more creatures coming out we will be able to eat more." replied Shinji.

"We'll probably need the extra strength, who knows what else what else we'll have to do or when we'll have to fight."

"Yeah as much as I want to get that guy back for tossing me into a building I don't feel like fighting him right now." said Asuka.

"That guy, Shi, he sure is strong." said Shinji.

"What bothers me more is that, if you follow the naming pattern, there are three more stronger than him plus Shinigami." replied Rei.

"Yeah, that could be a problem." said Shinji calmly. "Oh well. That's why we spent so much time training back in Sendai."

"And Rei you said your master came from this temple, so there should be some pretty strong people there right? Maybe they can train us too."

"That's actually one of the things I'm hoping for." said Rei. "Any extra training would be helpful to us."

"Well now that we all fell better, lets eat."

"Wow you can focus well."

"I focus on what's important or what we can do anything about. Everything else is just extra worries I don't need."

By this point the tossing around of light insults and personal philosophy was so normal for Asuka and Shinji it was almost as if they were expected to do an exchange like this one two or three times a day. They knew how each other thought and reacted to situations, but old habits die hard and the arguments came. Rei thought it was kind of humorous how Asuka and Shinji kept up that external relationship. The group had grown so much closer than when it first started and even since before their stay in Sendai. Their winter of training had bonded them all to each other.

After they ate dinner Rei, Asuka and Shinji sat around for a while and talked. They did this a lot considering they were always together. Many times the talks would be about their thoughts or things they did when they were kids. Never did their conversations go into the realm of "what will you do when the mist is gone?". They felt it almost taboo to do such a thing since they were never sure if they would succeed or if they would all survive. None of them were negative and thought they would be defeated, but at the same time they recognized the possibility of it happening at anytime. Even with this occasional thought, no one ever expressed it or showed any real concern about it.

The next few days were the same, walking until they found food, eating, walking some more, a little more food, and sleep. On the fifth day of their trip Rei was growing uneasy.

"This isn't good at all." she said as they all walked.

"What isn't good Rei?"

"The peace and quiet we've had. We haven't been attacked by demons outside since we left that underground library. I don't like it."

"Your right." replied Asuka. "Before we were attacked all the time, I wonder why there aren't any out here."

"This is a most befuddling conundrum." said Shinji. "No demons could mean either; they don't live this far north, the bad guys are stopping them from attacking us, or they realize how strong we are and are staying back. I doubt the first and last option and don't understand the second."

"Ok your going to have to explain befuddling." said Asuka confused.

"Really?" asked Shinji. "That's not that hard of a word."

"Stop you two, I'm serious about this. I don't like it at all. I don't like the feeling of things around here."

"Well I don't know anymore about this stuff than you do." said Asuka. "I guess the most we can do is keep are guard up."

"Yeah your right." This didn't help Rei at all. Something inside her felt off. It was as though she could feel evil around them, but could tell nothing else about it. She didn't want to say too much and worry her friends so she kept silent about it.

Later that day Rei, Asuka and Shinji came across a man standing on the path they were walking. He was facing the other way and not moving. They were surprised to see someone outside and were very cautious when they approached.

"Excuse me sir," said Shinji, "what are you doing out here? Is your village near by?"

The man turned around and looked at the ground.

Shinji asked again, "Hello, what are you doing out here?"

The man looked up at them. He was a very skinny man and average height. His hair was loose and strands covered his face. He had on a men's kimono and sandals.

"I was waiting for you." he said. "I'm here to kill you."

"Really?" asked Asuka. "And just who the hell are you?"

"My name is of no concern to you. You can call me San if you must."

"So you one of them." replied Asuka.

"Yes I am. I have been charged with killing you, but if you wouldn't mind would you just die easily? I don't want to damage your bodies too much. Just stand still so I can cut your throats."

"Are you insane? Why would we do that?"

"I need to examine your bodies and if I tear them up too much they will be hard to study."

"Forget it." said Asuka. "Lets get him."

"I guess I'll try this then." said Rei.

She focused and summoned the new demon from Sendai. What appeared was a demon that looked very much like a human. It had long arms and legs and was ghastly thin, as if it had bee starved. The demon reached out and grabbed San when it did it let out a breath of toxic gas and then vanished. Rei fell to her knees.

Using one hand to hold herself up she grabbed her face in terror. In the instant she summoned that demon she felt something evil within her. It grew to a point where it was able to speak to her.

"_I'm so glad you set me free."_ It said. _"I had been waiting for so long."_

"What the hell are you?"

"_Me? Why I'm just you, the evil side of you. The side that is strong, the side with no fear of power and the side that lusts for battle. The side that, if you embrace, we make you unstoppable."_

"No go away, get out."

"_I'm not leaving, I can't. I have been her growing since you were young. I grew every time you had a thought about power. I was worried for a while that I was going to be stuck here, but ever since you killed that human king I've been growing strong. Using that dark demon brought me this close to the surface."_

"Dark demon?"

"I see you have felt the effects of Shinigami's demon." said San.

"What?"

"Shinigami said he did something to those demon that he place in Sendai and that they would do something interesting to you. And it looks like that they awakened your evil side. How fun."

"Evil side?" said Shinji softly.

"Every time you use magic it will grow until eventually it takes you over."

"You bastard!" cried Asuka as she jumped in to attack San.

When Asuka attacked San vanished and reappeared behind her with a sword in his hand. As he brought it back to stab her Shinji cut him from behind. Asuka jumped away and turned toward San.

"Well what a fun observation." San said. "The next time we meet things will hopefully be a little better."

San fell over and inside the cut Shinji could see metal gears.

"It looks like the wind mills back home."

"You mean he made a mechanical copy of himself?" asked Rei.

"Rei are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Why are you lying? What happened to you?"

"It's just like San, or the fake one, said. My evil side grew and started to speak. It's very close to coming out it says."

"So that's what it meant." said Shinji holding chin."

"What are you talking about?"

"In one of the books that I was translating for the library it mentioned demons made by Shinpishugisha. The attempt was to make ones that they could use."

"Like back at your fathers lab?" Rei asked.

"Exactly. But this book said that when they were used they amplified undesirable traits. It said that evil grows in its presence."

"So those demon from Sendai were those created demons?" asked Asuka.

"It looks like it. I guess Shinigami must have found some and placed them there to harm you."

"Crap now what?" whined Asuka. "If Rei doesn't use magic anymore there isn't much good we can do."

"Shinji, did the book say anything about fixing this?"

"Not much. It only briefly mentioned that someone else was working on it. These books don't seem to use names or locations, they are written as though that information should be known just by the scope of the project."

"Well that doesn't help." Rei stood up. "I think I'm fine now. All I have to do is make it to the temple without using an magic and there, hopefully we can find some help."

"How optimistic of you."

"We've got to be that way right?"

"Right."

Rei, Asuka and Shinji continued walking after that very concerned about what had just happened. Shinji wanted to stay and examine the fake San but was not allowed. That night there was no light chatted about childhood, the were all to busy thinking about what had happened that day. Sleep was a much needed break and did not come easily.

The next day Rei, Asuka and Shinji came up to a clearing and saw a man sitting cross legged on a rock in the center. He was facing the other direction and responded to their gaze.

"Hello everyone, it's a pleasure to finally see you in person." He turned around reveling a very well kept man. If standing he would have been slightly taller than average, had short neat hair, and wore perfectly white kimono and hakama.

"Who are you?" asked Shinji.

"Well you not too smart are you? I'm San."

"What? You look nothing like the fake we saw yesterday."

"Yes I know, that was a terrible failure that one. Making doubles out of machine like that is so challenging, they rarely look right and are never fast enough. It realized you were behind it but was killed anyway. What a shame, a failed experiment."

"So you're the real one." said Shinji.

"Yes I am." San said Standing up on the rock. "Now, since you know my objective lets get this underway. I have to kill you quick if I want to save your bodies."

"You'll do no such thing." said Rei.

San had demon armor covering his left forearm and hand. In the center there was a red jewel. He placed is hand on the jewel and smiled. "This is one of my favorite inventions." he grabbed the jewel and pulled it from his arm. The jewel and armor came off and reformed into a large scythe.

"You can remove your armor?" asked Shinji calmly.

"So your interested I see." replied San. "No I cannot I simple created some extra from other demons and made this weapon from them. A sword is so dull and unimaginative."

"As boring as you may think it is," Rei said appearing behind San, "it's more than enough to kill you." She swung her sword at San's neck, but he vanished and reappeared off to the left.

"My, my that was a good move. I didn't even notice you flash over here. Good thing I've studied you."

"What?"

"In your last fight Shi recorded all of your combat information. How you move, attack, your speed, everything. You can't win."

"You cocky son of a bitch." Asuka said charging San and thrusting at his body. He easily side stepped and stopped.

"Well since you are going to die I might as well show you my real power huh? This way I will have no chance of ruining your bodies." San swung his scythe into the ground and removed his shirt. He hunched over slightly and from his back came two large wings made of the same crystal material as the demons and their armor. The wings were like that of a bird.

"His demon armor is on his back?"

"Yes." replied San. "The armor is fused directly into my spine. This made it difficult to work on but I was able to do it. It took a lot of experimentation but I have these wings."

"Experimentation?"

"Yes. I had to sacrifice thousands of demons before I was able to figure out how to do this. The key was a human life."

"What?" Asuka gasped in horror.

"For some reason humans have a lot of energy tucked away in their little bodies. Using that I was able to first make the wings and then fuse them to my body. There is some much that you can do if you know how to use the power of a human life. And now," San said vanishing. He reappeared behind Asuka holding his scythe in front of her neck. "you die."

As San pulled the blade to Asuka's throat she fell backwards and put her hands on the ground. Continuing the motion she brought her legs over and kicked at San as best she could , he moved lazily to the side to avoid. San swung his scythe back around at Asuka and Shinji stepped in to block. Only when Shinji held San's attack did anyone notice what was happening.

"Your flying huh?" Shinji said.

"But of course." San replied and flew up above them. "One thing that we observed about you three is your skill as a team and you speed in general. It is all very good, much more than humans should be able to do. So the simplest way to fight you was to create as large of an advantage as possible. You can't fly, I win."

"You think so." said Rei who was above San. She swung her sword down at his head, but San turned and blocked.

"Not bad, but I still have the advantage." He threw Rei off to the side and as she fell he vanished down below her, still in the air. As he swung Rei was able to turn her body enough to block the attack and land safely on the ground.

"Birds can catch their prey because they have the advantage of the sky. You even with being able to get this high can only go one direction. I can stay up here indefinitely and make maneuvers. You can't win."

"Damn him." Shinji said calmly. "So he just plans on swooping down and killing us one by one."

"I figured it was something like that." said Rei.

"Why did you have to tell me that?" asked Asuka.

San attacked viscously from the air, swooping down and attacking only one at a time. All they could do was block or evade, no counter attacked could be launched as San did not stay down long enough. Without an effective means to strike back Rei and the others held their defenses for quite some time.

"Damn this isn't good," Rei said after San retreated back into the air, "we need to do something besides just blocking."

"Yeah it doesn't look like we can wear him out doing this." said Asuka.

"You thought we could?" asked Shinji.

"I can hope can't I?"

"Still with the light chatter I see." said San calmly from above. "Either your all idiots and still thinks there's a chance to win, or you've been deceiving me all this time. Well I suppose it doesn't matter. Nothing you can do will save you."

Suddenly Asuka jumped up at San. Her jump was not high enough to reach him, she was a few feet short. Despite this she swung her spear over her head and down at San. He blocked the strike with his scythe.

"Did you really think that would work?"

"Yup." Asuka replied. She then swung herself at San using the spear now secured by the scythe. This caught San off guard and he was kicked my Asuka in midair.

"Damn that woman." San said to himself. Then noticing that someone was behind him turned to barley block a kick from Shinji.

Shinji repeated Askua's tactic but this time his second attack was with his weapon not his body. From his kick he thrust the blade in his left hand forward and cut San on the shoulder. The wound was not serious, but it would limit his motion a little.

As Shinji and Asuka began to fall San realized what had happened, he was completely distracted and off guard. He looked and saw Rei above him, her left arm straight down with her right across her body. She descended and slashed at him. San tried to move but was cut across his right side between two ribs.

Rei and the others landed and looked up at San who was slowly falling and bleeding. Holding himself only ten feet in the air he looked at them infuriated. Breathing heavily he spoke, "Damn you. You are definitely worthy of being my research subject. How could you coordinate an attack like that without talking to each other? So interesting."

"Who knows?" replied Shinji. "We must be that good."

"Must be that good? You underestimate me. Do you really think this little injury can stop me? Even harm me?" San pulled out a small capsule from his scythe and smashed it on his chest wound. From the capsule came a think liquid that covered his wound and stopped the bleeding. After a moment it changed color and matched that of his skin. There was no longer any indication that he had ever been cut.

"What the hell was that?" exclaimed Asuka.

"That? That was just some medicine I created to insure that I will never die."

"This is bad." said Rei.

"This little dream of mine can seal and any wound and make by body recover from any injury even external ones. I must admit, without it that attack of yours might have worked. That blade almost hit my liver."

"Well this isn't good." said Shinji calmly. "Now we have to kill him before ha can apply that crap. Or we have to cut off his hands."

"You wont have that chance." San vanished from his place in the air and reappeared behind Shinji. He swung the blade of his scythe up to impale him in the back. Shinji barley avoided a direct hit.

Shinji's dodge left him with a large gash on his back and left side. His clothes were torn and his blood sprayed on the ground.

"Shinji!" Rei yelled.

"I'm fine don't worry."

San appeared in front of Rei next and swung for her neck. She blocked the attack and struck for San's head with her palm. He flashed away to avoid the hit and reappeared in front of Asuka. When he attacked her Asuka narrowly avoided by jumping backwards. San flew back up into the air with a grin on his face.

"See you cannot win. I was able to injure one of you fastest teammates. Do you think you can keep fighting?"

Rei had flashed over to Shinji to check on his injury. "Are you alright, can you move?"

"I'm fine I told you that." Shinji said standing up. "But we need to end this fast, I would like this cut patched up."

"Foolish humans." San said flying back down towards them.

He flashed towards Asuka and as he did Rei flashed toward him. As San attacked Asuka Rei also attacked. He was able to block her attack with the long handle of his scythe. When San counterattacked Rei the scythe just below the blade with her free hand. San's eyes widened.

"Now die." Rei said as she thrust her blade at San's chest.

San avoided the full thrust but was cut across the chest again by Rei. In the middle of his dodge both Asuka and Shinji attacked him from different sides. San closed his wings and the attacks were stopped. By forcefully opening his wings San pushed back Shinji and Asuka. He swung his scythe hard to free it from Rei's grasp and she let go and jumped back.

"Your wings can be used as Shields?" said Rei in slight shock.

"Yes and I'm very disappointed that I had to use that ability of theirs. I really thought I wouldn't have to use that much power. Oh well," San said drifting up into the sky, "I'll just have to kill you all from up here. It's a little bit messy, but as long as there is something left to you to study. I suppose I only need to look at you musculoskeletal structures to see where all your strength comes from."

"Kill us from, up there?" Asuka said worried.

From the sky San summoned a large number of demons. They resembled wolves but were larger and far more viscous. They began to attack Rei, Asuka and Shinji while San floated up in the sky. After a few minutes of fighting San summoned even more to replace the ones that had been killed. He began to laugh loudly.

"Do you like my pets?" he asked between laughs. "These are one of my many successful experiments, demons made stronger than they were meant to be. They can do some other fun things too."

As a group of wolves attacked Asuka San snapped his fingers and wolves stopped and their backs arched. Before Asuka could react the demons exploded, the force shaking the ground and trees all around.

"All of my demons are implanted with explosive material that can be triggered by sound. Do you like? Sure it's a messy way to kill but it works."

Asuka was kneeling on the ground when the smoke cleared. Rei and Shinji flashed over to her to make sure she was ok.

"I'm fine." Asuka said when they arrived next to her. "We need to stop this. There has to be a way for us to kill this guy."

"Yeah but as long as he's up there and has his scythe we can't kill him." replied Rei.

"We need to get creative." said Shinji.

All the demons that had been fighting were now circling around the group. They stood ready to pounce and San was ready to explode his demons. Rei, Asuka and Shinji exchanged smiles and got Asuka to her feet. After a short stand off the demons jumped in and all at once exploded by San's command.

San who was quite high in the air began to laugh for his victory, but it was cut short when Shinji appeared in front of him and attacked. San flew up into the air to avoid the attack. Asuka appeared level with Shinji. She put her foot on his now extended arm and she jumped as he propelled her upward. Asuka reached San's height and swung at his stomach with his spear and he again flew away. Rei appeared in front of Asuka and they repeated what happened with Asuka and Shinji.

Rei and San were very far from the sight of the explosion both in altitude and lateral distance. San, not wanting to take any chances, flashed away even further into the sky to escape Rei. San was high enough up that Shinji, who was back on the ground, look about the size of an ant. Just then Rei again was at his level flying on the back of her demon. San was full of fear.

"What!? Your not supposed to be able to use your magic! It will kill you!"

"It will kill you first." Rei said. She jumped off her demon and it disappeared.

San tried to fly away but Rei was right on top of him and grabbing his shoulder. She lifted her right hand up above her head. San tried to block the oncoming attack with his scythe, but as her brought it in front of him Rei summoned her fire demon. She released her grip on San and the fire demon exploded on top of him.

Rei was propelled down towards the earth by the force of the explosion. After the long fall Rei landed fully absorbing the force of the fall with her legs. From her landing in a crouch she fell onto her left hand in pain, fighting back the evil side of her which had come back from her using magic. San hit the ground hard on his back. The loud thud was repeated when he bounced of the dirt and landed again.

"REI!" Asuka and Shinji called in unison and raced over to her side.

"Are you alright? Why did you use magic?"

"I'll be fine and I had to. We weren't going to win without it. His whole idea was to fight us without my magic that's why he waited. That's why they infected that demon."

"That was still pretty reckless." said Shinji. "We don't know what it will do to you if you over use you magic so please, hold off anymore until we know what to do ok?"

"Yeah sure."

"YOU BITCH. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?" San said infuriated. "No matter. it's worse for you in the long run. Not like I'll let you walk away from this." san motioned to his scythe but grabbed nothing. "WHAT!?!?" San exclaimed when he realized he was not able to get a healing capsule.

"You didn't notice the weight difference?" asked Shinji calmly. "That's just horrible."

San's scythe had been blown apart. The blade was stuck in the ground several meters away leaving San with no way to heal himself. San's wings were also damaged severely. He tried to stand up and make his way over to his scythe, but as he did Shinji and Asuka flashed to him and stabbed him in the torso. San gaped upon the killing blow and his body faded into dust, his armor spin and broken wings crumbling. Shinji and Asuka turned back towards Rei who was standing now.

"Should you really be standing Rei?" asked Asuka.

"Yeah I'm fine. Lets just leave ok."

"Yeah sure."

Rei, Asuka and Shinji walked away from the battle ground, both Asuka and Shinji were assisting Rei with the walk. After a very short walk Shinji and Asuka stopped and had Rei rest against a tree. They also sat down to rest.

"Thanks you two." Rei said calmly. "I'll be ready to go again I just a few minutes."

"No you wont." said Shinji. "We are done for the day we're all far too injured and tired to keep going right now. We are going to rest for the remainder of the day."

"Oh shit I forgot!" exclaimed Asuka. "Shinji you were cut in that fight are you ok?"

"Huh? Oh yeah I was cut wasn't I. It doesn't hurt anymore, it should be ok."

"Here let me look at it." said Rei.

"It should be fine really."

"No let me see."

Shinji gave in and turned his back toward Rei. Upon removing his shirt they saw that the bleeding had stopped but his back was covered in blood.

"What a mess." said Rei calmly. "Asuka can you go get some water we need to clean this wound up?"

"Yeah sure." Asuka said as she stood up and ran to get water.

"We came really close to defeat today huh?" asked Rei.

"Yeah we did."

"You need to be more careful. There's no reason you should be getting cut across the back."

"You shouldn't do anything reckless either. Your basically cursed right now and you still used magic. Why?"

"Because we couldn't have won without it. San was too powerful for us to take down normally."

"You were close enough to grab him you should have simply cut him."

"Your probably right." Rei replied looking down at the ground. "But I don't want to live in fear of this evil thing inside me. I have to be able to control it."

"And stupidly using the power that makes it stronger will do that?" asked Asuka.

"Asuka…."

"Rei your really strong, the strongest person I've ever seen, but you shouldn't do stupid things like that. Even though your strong you still can be hurt and killed so, so be careful from now on ok." Asuka broke out into tears trying to finish her sentence.

Rei stood up and hugged Asuka. Asuka stopped crying out of surprise. "I'm sorry Asuka. I'll be careful from now on. I'll never make you two worry or cry ever again. Ok?"

"Ok. Thank you Rei."

"Alright, now lets patch Shinji up so he doesn't get an infection."

After they had patched up their injuries Rei, Asuka and Shinji managed to find a little food and set up camp. They spent the rest of the day sitting there, resting after the battle. After a while they all fell asleep, exhausted from the battle.

The next morning Asuka and Shinji awoke and Rei was still asleep. Allowing her to rest they packed up their camp as quietly as possible. When Rei finally woke up she noticed the work that had been done while she was asleep.

"I'm sorry." she said bowing. "I did not mean for you to do all the work, I'll try not to over sleep from now on."

"It's ok Rei." said Asuka. "You were tired from what happened yesterday. We were letting you rest. You deserved it."

"Thank you Asuka."

"Alright then, lets get going."

"Pushy aren't you Shinji?"

"Well we do still have quite the ways to go before we reach the temple."

"Good point. Are you all good Rei?"

"Yeah, let's go!"

The remainder of their trip to Kenji's temple was quiet. The journey contained only random attacks of weak demons. No battles with Shinigami or his minions. Rei refrained from using any magic as to stop the progression of her evil side. After the long month of traveling Rei, Asuka and Shinji finally arrived at the temple.

* * *

"Shinigami-sama, San was defeated by the Shinpishugisha and her friends. We have lost yet another comrade."

"THAT GIRL IS STARTING TO GET ON MY NERVES. WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT HER."

"I think we should do nothing." said Ichi.

"What is your reasoning behind this Ichi?"

"Well Shi, are forces have been depleted down to you, a number lower than San, Ni, myself and Shinigami. If we send any more of us out to attack them are forces will be too thin. I think we should just wait for them to come to us."

"That's not a bad idea Ichi." said Ni. "Since there are only two of us that are able to stand against those humans. Sorry Shi but San's dead. You were one spot lower than him so you wont be much of a help."

"YOU THINK WE SHOULD ALLOW THEM TO REACH THE FORTRESS ICHI?"

"Why not. The demons here are many times stronger and the three of us are here. If they attack here they will be fighting on your ground and you will have the advantage. Your victory should be guarantied then Shinigami."

"THAT IS A VERY STRONG PLAN. WHAT DO YOU THINK SHI?"

"Excuse me Shinigami-sama!" interjected Ni. "I know that Shi is a loyal member of you army, but a member higher than him has been defeated. His opinion dose not matter and neither should his presence here. He lacks the power to be useful to you."

"NI ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME?"

"No sir, of course not. I merely suggest that.."

"THEN DO NOT SPEAK OUT OF TURN. SHI YOUR OPINION PLEASE."

"Ichi's tactic is a playable one. No matter what the Shinpishugisha gains at the temple it will not help if she decides to attack this fortress. If you choose that plan of action, her death will be assured."

"GOOD, THEN WE SHALL WAIT FOR HER TO COME TO US." Shinigami said and disappeared. Shi also disappeared.

"What good is he if a stronger member has been killed? Why dose Shinigami-sama even bother with that weakling?"

"Relax Ni, it's not as though Shi is exceptionally weak. Now if Nana was left by now he would be worth throwing away, but Shi still has many uses. Just do as Shinigami tells you ok."

"Since when did you follow orders so exactly?"

"I'm not following orders. That plan was so we could sit around here for now. I don't feel like being told that someone else has died."

"Your getting soft in your old age."

"No. It has just gotten annoying."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: To thoses of you who actually follow the story i am very sorry about the time between updtaes. My schedual at college does not lend much time to writing so i work on these in small parts. Since I'm away from school from a week and a half i should be able to get at least one chapter written and posted before i go back to school. Enough with the apoligies. This chapter was kinda hard to write so if it wasn't as good oh well. Next chapter we finnaly get to see kenji's temple. Will it be helpful as they think or a waste of time. Hopefully you'll find out soon.


	10. Chapter 10

Upon arriving at the temple Rei, Asuka and Shinji were awestruck at the sight of it. The path leading up to it was decorated with seven large red wooden arches. The temple itself was built into the side of a mountain with only the front visible. The main gate was close to meters high and made entirely out of metal. The gate was adorned with images of what they speculated to be strong masters of the past. On each side of the gate was a large statue of a warrior. The feeling that emanated from the temple was that of strength and good.

"This is Master Kenji's temple, his home." Rei said staring at the sight before her.

"Yeah yeah it's really big. Can we go in now?"

"Nice Asuka just ruin the moment."

"Quiet Shinji."

"She's right anyway." said Rei. "Lets go in."

The walked up to the gate and Rei knocked on the metal door. A small hatch slid open in the gate and eyes peered through.

"Who goes there?" said the man behind the gate.

"We are travelers. I am Rei Ayanami, disciple of Master Kenji. He instructed me to journey her and ask for assistance in our quest."

"And what might that be?"

"To destroy the mist and free the world."

"Ha! How can you do that?"

"Master Kenji was instructed to find me by your abbot. I am Shinpishugisha."

"Ok I'll let you in."

The large gate was opened and a single man stood behind it. He was average looking in every way. Height, hair color and length, muscle build and even voice had no real characteristic difference. He looked at Rei and company very calmly.

"If you are who you say you are than the abbot will be glad to see you. If you are not, if you lie about your relation to Kenji, then you will be killed. Do you accept these terms?"

"Yes."

"Ok then. Follow me."

The man turned around and walked toward the main temple. Through the small yard between the gate and the temple were several devices that were apparently used for training. The temple itself had another gate to it. This one was much smaller than the first and was imbedded in the side of the mountain. Behind the gate was a long staircase leading upwards. The trip up the staircase took quite sometime. At the top was a hallway that had many doors. Again they followed the man to the far end. Upon walking through this door they arrived in a large room. At one end was a large chair and in the center was a large square platform that was risen off the ground slightly. The man who had brought them bowed toward the chair and spoke.

"Lord abbot, these travelers have important issues to discuss with you. Please allow them to speak."

The man in the chair looked up toward them. He waved his hand across his body and the man who led Rei, Asuka and Shinji stood up. He then walked over to his left and pulled a large rope that was hanging from the ceiling. Soon after many people walked into the room and sat around the perimeter. The man in the chair spoke.

"What is it you wish to say young ones."

The man in the chair was very old. He had a long white beard and hair. He held a cane in his hands and his body was hunched over. Even with these signs of age it was easy to tell that he had once been very strong indeed.

Rei bowed before she spoke. "My name is Rei Ayanami. I am from a village in the south west that was inhabited by Master Kenji ten years ago. Upon your orders abbot he sought me out and trained me. Under his guidance I have been given the title master. I humbly request your assistance in our quest that was foretold by your vision."

"You mean to say that you are the Shinpishugisha that I saw?"

"Yes sir."

"I do not believe this."

"But sir.."

"I don't believe most things I am told. Please prove to us that you are who you say you are."

"Hold on a second!" exclaimed Asuka. "You don't trust us? We obviously are strong and what not, we made in through the mist. That's not something you can fake."

"Asuka be quiet." Shinji said with his smile.

"How dare you speak to the abbot that way!" called a man from the side. "You expect us to believe that a woman like her was given the title of master? Either Kenji is handing out the name or your lying."

"You wish to prove them wrong?" asked the abbot.

"Yes sir let me be one to test them." he said bowing.

"Very well then. You shall be tested on your merit. One of you will fight with Genya."

Genya walked into the center of the risen floor which was apparently a fighting area. Genya was a very large man, over six feet tall and very muscular. He scowled at Rei and the other.

"Hahaha!" Asuka laughed pointing at Genya with on hand and holding her stomach with the other. "This guy thinks he's strong because he has huge muscles. What an idiot."

"How dare you insult me. Do you wish to stand behind those words?"

"Yeah sure." said Asuka confidently. "It would be a waist of time to have Rei fight you."

"The first test shall be between Genya and the red haired woman." said the abbot.

"Asuka." Rei said as she began to walk towards the ring. "Don't do anything stupid like allowing your self to get hit alright."

"Like this idiot could ever lay a hand on me."

Asuka walked into the ring with a confident smirk on her face. Genya took a stance and Asuka stood with her hands at her side. Genya charged in and threw a punch at Asuka's face. She side stepped the attack and quickly got behind Genya. As Genya tried to turn around Asuka put her back against his and every time he moved she moved with him. Genya tried to shake her off but to no avail. Genya was getting annoyed with Asuka's style and tried harder and harder to hit her. Eventually Asuka ducked between his legs and in front of him. Immediately she jumped um and kicked him in the jaw. As Genya reeled back from the attack Asuka swung her other leg around and hit the side of his head. Genya was taken off his feet and landed on his side. Asuka landed calmly and gave a slight chuckle.

"What an idiot." she said turning away and walking out of the ring.

Several other members of the temple stood up and lifted Genya out of the ring.

"Impressive." spoke the abbot. "You were easily able to defeat him. Shall another of you take the test?"

"Why not." said Shinji. "It's not like I can really say no."

"You joke about us boy?" said a man from the side. "Abbot sir, I would like to test this man."

"Very well. The next test shall be between Seiryuu and the boy."

"Interesting." said Shinji as he walked into the ring.

"You find me interesting boy?"

"Yes." Shinji said with a smile.

"Do you smile out of confidence or out of ignorance?"

"I smile because I smile. I don' think I do anything else."

"Interesting."

As soon as Seiryuu finished speaking he charged at Shinji. He was quite fast, but Shinji was able to side step. Seiryuu instantly changed direction and attacked again. After a few exchanges like that Shinji blocked an attack instead of dodging.

"I see. You drop you speed just slightly so you can change direction better."

"Very perceptive of you. Only I can go faster." Seiryuu flashed behind Shinji and kicked at his head. As the kick was about to land Shinji vanished.

"Good." said Shinji smiling. "If that was as fast as you were going to go this match would have been a real drag."

"Hmm." said Seiryuu.

The attacking began again but this time it was a high speed battle. Shinji and Seiryuu flashed at equal speed all across the ring attacking each other. Several of the members of the temple were shocked at the display before them. Many were unable to see either of them move.

"How long is Shinji going to keep this up?" asked Asuka.

"Come on Asuka just relax. Your fight is over let Shinji enjoy his."

"Why he should just get it over with so you can go. We need to get help these people and not waste time."

"Asuka come on. Shinji finally gets to have a fight where his life isn't on the line. Let him have his friendly competition."

"I wonder if this Seiryuu guy knows that Shinji is holding back."

Seiryuu and Shinji stopped in the center of the ring standing relaxed with the arms at their sides. Seiryuu had a serious look on his face and Shinji had his usual smile.

"You very good boy. I never expected for you to be as fast as me. It is nice to see more people at this level."

"Huh, oh I'm not as fast as you." Shinji said and vanished. "I'm faster." Shinji was behind Seiryuu without him noticing. He struck the back of his neck and Seiryuu collapsed to his knees. "That was fun. I'm done now." Shinji said and walked over to Rei and Asuka. "Alright your turn."

"Good job Shinji."

"Thank you deception is my specialty."

"Very impressive." spoke the abbot. "For the final test Rei shall fight a master at Kenji's level."

"That sounds like fun." Shinji said.

"If you are who you say you are than you will be victorious of your opponent. If not, you will be killed."

"What?" called Asuka.

"I agree with these terms."

"Why?"

"If I impersonated a master of this temple than I deserve to be killed. You guys will be killed to if I loose."

"Good thing I trust you."

"Thank you Asuka." Rei said chuckling.

"Master Futoshi. Please step forward and test this girl."

"Yes sir." replied a man standing in the corner. He walked out into the ring and calmly stood at his end. "You say you are Kenji's student, I would very much like to see that."

"Than I shall show you." Rei replied.

Futoshi was a short man only about as tall as Rei. He had amazing muscular tone and shaggy black hair that hung down in front of his face. His eyes were narrowed and looked as though they could pierce through a person. When Rei entered the ring he very calmly put his right foot behind him and turned his body. His right hand went across his body level with his collar bone and his left went across his stomach. Both his hands were in fists. Rei put her right foot out and bent her knee so only her toes touched the ground. Her left leg also bent and she placed most of her weight on that leg. Her right had was up and open just below chin height almost fully extended. Her left hand was much closer to her body and just below her sternum. Rei and Futoshi stayed in their stance without moving.

After some time passed Rei and Futoshi had still not moved from their spots. Man members of the temple were quietly whispering amongst themselves. Asuka and Shinji stood silent for a while, but Asuka was unable to stay quiet.

"What are they doing?" she asked. "They haven't moved for ten minutes."

"They are predicting each others moves." replied Shinji.

"Huh?"

"Masters at that level can look at an opponent and know what they will do. Even more than can judge how that person will respond to separate attacks. Basically they can see the battle before they move."

"So they are imagining how each other will react if the attack first?"

"Not just that, they are seeing how they whole battle will transpire. By they time they attack they whole battle, every attack, evade and block will be known to each of them. When they finally do move that winner will already be decided."

"Wow that's amazing. Can you do that Shinji?"

"Never tried. My skills are different from their's. Since mine is mostly shadow and deception I was never taught things like this. Even if I could, Rei would still surpass me in that aspect. Right here is where we see the real difference between Rei and us. Not the Shinpishugisha skills, but here, in battle with her full skill being used."

"Rei will win. She'll see through this guy and be able to beat him."

"Let's hope so." Shinji said joyfully. "You two being dead would be a real bummer."

"Us two? You wouldn't be killed?"

"Oh of course not. I'd escape before they could do that."

"Heh."

Rei and Futoshi stood ready to attack for a few more minutes. Eventually the abbot exhaled. He was also able to see the outcome. As he exhaled Rei and Futoshi vanished. Only a few of the masters, the abbot and Shinji were able to clearly see what happened. Asuka could follow where they were, but the fine details were unknown to her. After being gone from sight for about thirty seconds Rei and Futoshi reappeared in the center of the ring. Rei was crouched under an attack and her palm was o Futoshi's stomach.

"Very impressive." Futoshi said. "You are definitely a master taught by Kenji." With this Futoshi fell over defeated by Rei. Everyone in the temple gasped at this event. Three strangers had come out of nowhere and beaten three of the strongest people at the temple with great ease.

The abbot stood up from his chair. "These three have proven themselves to be who they say they are. We shall now honor their request. Everyone is dismissed."

Everyone who was sitting stood up and left orderly out the same doors they had entered through. Only two people stayed in the room besides the abbot; another master who occupied another corner, and the man who had brought Rei and the others up to this room. They walked over and stood on either side of the abbot.

"What is it you wish to discuss with me?" asked the abbot.

"Sir." Rei said bowing.

"You need not use formalities. You are a master at this high a level so you may speak as you normally would."

"Thank you. Sir it was by your vision that Kenji traveled to my village and trained me correct?"

"Yes this is true. I saw a Shinpishugisha from the southwest who would have the power to save this world."

"I, being that Shinpishugisha, request more assistance from you. Either training, men to help our quest or more information of the mist. How to beat it, where the source is or the location of the one responsible, Shinigami."

"I am sorry. I can give you no men and no information that will be useful to you."

"Then please.."

"There will be very little we can do for you in the way of training as well. You will only be able to grow so much here. Your skills are almost level with the masters of this temple, and you Rei, may be stronger than everyone here."

"So your saying we came all the way here for nothing!?" exclaimed Asuka.

"It may seem that way." said the abbot.

"Surely abbot they can still be trained." said the man who lead the group up. "At least the can get used to fighting different people. They cannot get worse."

"This is true."

"Also, There is something that can be done for the Shinpishugisha."

"Do you speak of what I think?"

"Yes sir. She is the one from you vision so she will be able to do it."

"Be careful. You know full well what will happen if she fails."

"Yes." the man looked at Rei. "If you would, follow me and we will begin your training."

Rei stood up to follow the man.

"Rei." called Shinji. "Good luck."

"Thanks."

"You two shall be trained here for now. You may stay as long as is needed for your friend to complete her training."

"Thank you sir." Asuka and Shinji aid in unison with a bow.

Asuka and Shinji were led down a hallway by the other master that stayed in the room during the discussion. He walked a few feet in front of them so Asuka spoke quietly so he would not hear.

"Shinji I don't trust this."

"Trust what?"

"This place, this whole thing. They just took Rei and we don't know where she is. For all we know this is some kind of trap and we are being lead off guard."

"Well the off guard part is out, you nice an suspicious."

"I'm serious Shinji. If this is a trap and Rei gets into a bad spot what will happen? She cant use magic and we wont be there to help."

"You just answered your own question. And besides nothing is going to happen. We can trust these people."

"How can you trust them so easily?"

"I'm surprised you don't since Rei does. And because it takes less work to do that than think up ad things like you are now."

"Lazy idiot."

"We have arrived at your room." said the man leading them. "Unfortunately due to the amount of space you will be sharing a room."

"What really!?"

"This is the only spare room we have and I was under the impression that you would not want to share a room with the other residents of the temple."

"Fine."

"Please make yourselves at home. A meal shall be prepared in your honor so please come and attend when I come for you."

"Ok that sounds nice." said Shinji.

Shinji and Asuka stepped into the room to find only two beds. From this they concluded that either; Rei would be sharing a bed with someone or that she was not going to be staying in this room. Asuka was still annoyed and skeptical about the temple and the people in it. Shinji lay back on his bed and calmly looked up the ceiling with his trademark smile. Asuka glared at him.

"Can I help you Asuka?"

"Are you concerned about this situation at all? You don't even think that its odd that Rei was taken somewhere else? Don't you care about… about your friend?"

"Of course I do. I also know that Rei can handle herself. And if she thought that there was anything to worry about she would have given us a hint not just walked away. You worry too much."

"Hmph." Asuka grunted. "So, what do you think we will be doing while we stay here?"

"Some type of training I guess. We could use some more strength after all."

"I wonder if we will learn Rei's style while we're here."

"I wont be, you might."

"Why wont you?"

"I have a style. I would be unable to pick up another one."

"Hmm."

A while later there was a knock on the door. It was the same man who had brought them to the room a few hours before. He slowly opened the door and bowed before he entered.

"Excuse me, the feast is about to start. Please come with me."

Shinji and Asuka followed the man back down to the hallway. After passing through the fighting room, as they had come to call it, they took the third door on the left of the other hallway. After taking another short hallway the door opened and revealed a large area with man tables that were, at this time, covered with food. Each table was had members of the temple sitting all around waiting. At the far end of the room was the abbot sitting at his very own table.

"Our guests have arrived." the abbot said still sitting. :Young travelers and great warriors, Shinji and Asuka, please enjoy this feast in your honor."

The entire hall cheered as Shinji and Asuka bowed in thanks. They were lead over to a table were they sat down and began eating. Shinji looked over at Asuka with a slightly different smile.

"What is it now Shinji?"

"Your not suspicious anymore I see. I you didn't question the food or anything. What made you change your mind?"

"Nothing I'm just hungry. Why would I pass up all this free food that's in my honor?"

"Wow you are humorous."

"The only thing I don't like is," Asuka paused and started to speak quietly, "they said it was for us, with no mention of Rei at all. I think I do have reason to be worried now."

"Well you could be right." said Shinji without lowering his voice. "But I doubt it. Again I don't think they would have done anything bad to her. Or even been able to. Unless one of Shinigami's men had gotten in here somehow I don't think anyone here can harm Rei. You need to stop worrying and relax."

"Fine fine, if you say so."

"Seriously you of all people should trust Rei's judgment and skill. What ever they have her doing I'm sure is beneficial and probably has something to do with her Shinpishugisha powers."

"Yeah ok. Your right."

After the feast Shinji and Asuka went back to their room. They were getting tired of being escorted everywhere they went. They understood the formality behind it and that it was a gesture of respect to them, but it still got annoying after a while. After sitting around for a while Shinji retired for the evening leaving Asuka awake by herself. She laid back on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. With all of Shinji's reassurances she felt much better about the situation they were in and was able to sleep easy.

They next morning Shinji and Asuka awoke and decided to look around the temple a bit without an escort. After a little searching they were surprised to find no one around the temple. They continued to search and finally found everyone in a large room with a statue of a god at the far end. All the members of the temple were kneeling and praying to this statue. They were seated according to their rank at the temple with masters in the front and newest in the rear. Shinji and Asuka stood at the door.

"What are they doing?" asked Asuka.

"They appear to be praying to this god of theirs."

"Why would they do something like that?"

"Because people find it comforting to pray to things. And its probably a tradition of theirs."

"Do you think a god actually hears this or cares what they are asking?"

"How should I know? That sounds more like Rei's department. This is never something I did or ever wanted to do. I always found it stupid."

"Why?"

"Well I figure that if you listen to the stories of the worlds creation, the gods have enough trouble with us so continually bothering they does not seem like a good idea. That and I never had time to waste on something like this. It wouldn't have made me a better scientist or better at my fighting so why do it?"

"Good point."

"And you? No tradition like this was in your village?"

"Well I don't remember too much, but I think I remember hearing something about it. A few of the adults had said that praying to a god was pointless after they had forsaken humans like they did. You know, with the mist and all."

"That makes sense. If this is a tradition of this temple why doesn't Rei do this? She learned from someone from this temple and is a Shinpishugisha so she has stronger ties to spirits and whatnot."

"Probably because Kenji was her teacher." said Seiryuu standing in front of them.

"Oh the prayer ended I see." said Shinji.

"You don't ask about what I said?"

"Well either you'd tell me anyway, or Asuka would ask. And from what I know about your personality you are not the type to hold back information. Masters always want to teach other."

"You have me pegged very well. Kenji did not agree with this tradition of ours."

"Why not?" asked Asuka.

"He said that it was pointless. That as long as we did no damage to the earth and did not needlessly take life it would be enough. He said his time could be better spent training and refining his art. It was because he spent all is time doing that, he was picked to travel and find the Shinpishugisha girl."

"Rei." Asuka interjected.

"Yes my apologies. He was sent since he was the strongest and had the best chance to make it to her village."

Shinji looked past Seiryuu to some of the other members of the temple. "It seems we angered a few of these people by saying what we did earlier."

"That you did. Everyone here takes the traditions seriously so you words and the mention of Kenji's name are not taken well."

"Your temple seems to have anger problems." said Asuka.

Several members of the temple started to speak after Asuka's comment. They were saying she was far to confident for her own good.

"What, you big strong men are mad that a woman should speak like this? Then do something about it. Or are you to scared after you saw what I could do yesterday?"

The room went quiet.

"That's what I thought."

"Asuka why don't we stop pestering them."

"Fine." Asuka said and walked out of the room.

While Asuka and Shinji walked Asuka looked as though she was thinking about something. Instead of asking Shinji just walked besides her and waited for her to say something about it. They arrived at the training room and it was full of people training.

"Is there a shortcut somewhere that we don't know about?" asked Shinji.

"Maybe." Asuka paused. "Hey Shinji."

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering. Can you teach me that flash thing that you and Rei do?"

"Huh? Ok. Why al of a sudden?"

"When Rei fought yesterday, I was barley able to follow it and even you were moving pretty fast. I could follow you, but you weren't going your full speed. We've let it go for a long time, but I am the weakest one in our group so I need all the help I can get. Please teach it to me."

"Sure. This place is a little full so how about we go outside and train it?"

"Ok."

Shinji and Asuka traveled outside to the area between the main gate and the actual temple. Shinji stopped and turned towards Asuka.

"So do you really want to learn this?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I?"

"Well some people cant actually handle the training. Do you think you are up to it?"

"Yes."

"Once you complete this you will have strength on par with that of a master. Lets begin. Very simply, I want you to run at me as fast as you can."

Asuka and Shinji continued to train all day without stopping. When the sun was beginning to set Asuka fell to the ground on her back exhausted from the days training.

"Man this is hard. You both did this?"

"No neither of us rested before we were instructed. Now stand back up."

"Are you kidding me? I can keep going like this. I haven't eaten."

"And you wont eat or stop until you accomplish the task set before you."

"But I can't.."

"Can't what? Go faster? Yes you can, and you will. You have gotten slower since we started this morning. You shall not stop until you move faster than when we started. You must pull all of your strength into this and surpass your limits."

"Damn. This is so much harder than the training we did in Sendai."

Asuka continued to train until the moon had risen into the sky. By her best guess it was past midnight and starting to work its way toward next morning. After many tries and near mental and physical collapse Asuka finally was able to move faster than she did at the start of the day. When Shinji said "Good job" Asuka collapsed on the ground asleep.

"You don't know how well you gust did Asuka. Completing the first stage after only one day is quite the accomplishment. Most people take much longer. You, Rei and I are probably the only ones that can do this."

The next morning Asuka was woken up by Shinji. She looked around surprised to find herself back in her room. Puzzled, she looked at Shinji and started to speak.

"How.."

"I brought you here after you fell asleep. Please don't yell at me this early in the morning. Instead eat some food and meet me back outside, we need to keep training. The hard part is about to start." Shinji got up and walked out of the room.

"Wow. I feel bad for anyone that Shinji ever trains fully. So Shinji and Rei went through stuff like this, no wonder they are so strong."

Asuka ate her breakfast and joined Shinji outside. He was waiting for her patiently facing the direction she was coming from.

"Show me your speed improvement." Shinji said flatly.

Asuka stopped and readied herself to run. When she did she was surprised at how much faster she was moving since yesterday. It was like her weight had halved and she was gliding across the ground. She stopped just before reaching Shinji and looked at him with amazement.

"Very good. Your normal speed is high enough that learning the flash is not out of the question. Now to do this move you'll have to go one step further than just muscular strength. You need to understand the energy that flows through you."

"Energy?"

"Yes. Everyone has life energy that flows through them. Even those people that work for Shinigami have a life force. Theirs is distorted, but it's still there. Everyone's energy is unique to them had has a different purpose."

"What do you mean by purpose?"

"Well I was getting to that. The reason we do things, all our action, especially fighting, are guided by this energy. Much of who we are is determined by it. Rei is a very just and noble person that stands by her beliefs and the energy that flows through her is also just and strong. That is why her flash is what it is. She has understood her energy and mastered it."

"Ok that makes sense. What about you is yours calm and partially lazy?"

"No. my energy has been changed by my art. My art is that of death and the shadows and that is what my energy is. Rei fights for her principles. When she charges it is for those. When I charge, it is to kill my target. There is no other purpose to it than that. You on the other hand are much nicer. You live and breath protecting. You reason for fighting, and the energy that flows through you, exists for no other purpose than to protect those you love. You have to use that to master your flash."

"To protect those I love?"

"Yes. Stage two of flash training involves you understanding that energy and transferring it to you legs and feet. Before you can learn the full flash you must learn how to leave the spot you are standing."

"What you mean start moving? I know how to move."

"No you don't. When people start to run they are slow and their speed gradually picks up. What you need when you run is much like when you attack. The speed must be there when it starts, but even attacks get faster between start and finish. The reason flash is so hard, the reason you loose sight of it, is because you move at full speed the instant you start moving. There is no buildup of momentum, just instantaneous speed from the very start. That is what you need your energy for."

"I understand."

"Good. Then try it."

Asuka and Shinji trained this skill everyday for one month. Each and every day Asuka got faster and fast until she was just short of the full flash. For several days she pondered about what she was missing. She could tell that there was one thing she did not have, one small difference between how Shinji did it and how she was, but she was unable to figure it out. Eventually her speed stopped increasing. She had three straight days of no gain and was very worried about why. On the four day Shinji had a bigger smile than normal when Asuka came out to train.

"I see you haven't gotten any faster in a few days, how sad."

"Instead of pestering me why don't you tell me what I'm doing wrong? That would be a lot more useful that just wasting my time."

"What could possibly be more useful than that? Pestering those you are training forces them to learn. But I will tell you what your problem is."

"What is it?"

"There is a problem with your flash. Your abilities are higher than that of a normal human, but your flash still wont change."

"What am I not trying hard enough?"

"Oh heavens no. in fact you are trying to hard."

"What?"

"Think about how you have been doing you flash. You ready your run or attack and then go. Think about how Rei and I have done a flash in the past."

"You've gone from standing normally."

"Yes. If you can do that you will gain your flash, but there is a trick behind it."

"What is it."

"Unfortunately your strong personality will be a problem with this last step. You need to be fully relaxed to do such a move. Stay calm and empty and then you will be able to do the flash. Once you have learned to do that you must do it over and over until clearing your mind like that can be done without thinking. Your almost there."

"So once I master this, how does it get better?"

"The same way as before, forcing yourself to move faster than the last time."

"Ok."

Asuka spent the next week training to flash from a standing position. She initially had to stop and breath before being able to move, but after the week had pasted she could do it whenever she wanted. Asuka could now flash like Shinji and Rei, not as fast, but she had the ability.

"Good. Now, one final test, attack me using the flash."

"Right."

Asuka drew her weapon and readied to attack Shinji. When she vanished Shinji's smile grew just a little. Asuka flashed all around Shinji to try and confuse him on her location. She did not actually think that her speed would be enough to do this, but showing how well she could control the flash was what Shinji wanted. When Asuka finally attack Shinji simple side stepped and put his blade to Asuka's back.

"Very good. You are quite fast. I think we will be able to beat them all now."

"Thanks Shinji."

"No problem."

"I see you can do the flash now!" called a voice from behind them.

Asuka turned around and smiled from ear to ear. "Rei!" she called and flashed over to her. "Your finally back."

"Yeah I'm back."

Asuka hugged Rei and Rei returned the act. Shinji walked over to them.

"So, how did it go?"

"Good. I don't have to worry about the evil side of e anymore. And, I got a new power."

"Really? And?"

"It is amazing. With it I'm sure we can beat Shinigami and his minions. Asuka's new flash will be a real help too."

"Well?" said Asuka letting go of the hug. "What happened while you were gone? Where did you go? What did you do? Tell us."

"Yes please Asuka was all kinds of worried at first and I'd like to know what happened. I've been suppressing my curiosity for some time know."

"Ok. It's a long story so lets go sit down."

* * *

"Yes." the man looked at Rei. "If you would, follow me and we will begin your training."

Rei stood up to follow the man.

"Rei." called Shinji. "Good luck."

Rei followed the man out a door behind the abbot's chair and down a long hallway. After a few minutes of walking Rei stopped.

"What seems to be the problem Rei?"

"Who are you?"

"What do you mean? I yes I haven't introduced myself, my name is Takuji."

"That's not what I meant. What I meant is who are you really?"

"I do believe I answered that."

"Don't try to keep this up I can tell you are disguising yourself."

"Oh?"

"Shinji was able to tell too. You may not have changed your name, but you are not who you are pretending to be, not to us anyway. You mentioned something to train me that they could not. You obviously know something related to the Shinpishugisha that they don't. Are you a Shinpishugisha as well?"

"Very good." Takuji said smiling. "One thing though, did your friend Asuka not notice that I was hiding?"

"No, her skill in that matter is not well advanced."

"Too bad I only fooled one of you. Yes I am a Shinpishugisha like you." Takuji pulled off his wig and his blue hair fell over his face. "I'm glad you figured this out so fast I can take all this makeup off."

"How did you disguise your eye color?"

"That is a trick I would like to keep to myself."

"Fine. Why did you think it was necessary to hide yourself like that?"

"One to test your perception and two so you would not ask me to train you. I wanted it to just happen."

"Interesting. So, where are you taking me and, what is your Shinpishugisha power? Can you tell me anything else about our race? Is all this really our fault?"

"You'll see and I will tell you all you'd like later, please just follow me for now."

Takuji continued to walk down the hallway. Rei followed with ever increasing curiosity about what was going to happen. Eventually they came to a staircase that lead down into the earth. The staircase was deeper than anything Rei had ever seen. It seemed to descend indefinitely. After quite some time on the staircase it finally ended and there was another hallway that lead back in the direction of the temple. When they finally reached the end Rei guessed that they were deep beneath the temple.

"This is where we will train for now." Takuji said opening the door.

Inside was a large open space that was fully like exactly like the underground library. Rei looked around amazed at the sight.

"This is just like the library."

"So you have seen that have you?"

"Yes. I was lead there in some kind of trance and Shinji tried to translate some books from there. How does the ceiling glow like that?"

"Many hundreds of years ago the Shinpishugisha wanted to be able to conduct research in a secluded manner so they built great spaces like this one underground. At first the just used torches but one scientist invented a crystal that would glow as long as there was air present. By putting in a large enough source this perfectly lit space was created."

"Wow."

"As interesting as that is it's not why we are here. We have come here to train you. You are the demon whisperer correct?"

"Yes."

"Good. Many Shinpishugisha survived the massacre and are hiding all over the world, but only you can stop this mist. The demon whisperer is the only one who can acquire enough power."

"Why did it have to be me? Aren't there others with this power?"

"No. In all history there have been three with this power. The first was born over one thousand years ago and the second almost two hundred. This is not a skill that manifest itself regularly."

"I see. Then I am honored to have this ability."

"You needn't say anything like that I am only here to train you not make you grateful."

"Before we start I want to know, what is your power?"

"My power is more of a curse than anything. I have the power of infinite knowledge."

"Infinite knowledge?"

"Yes, I know everything. Everything that has ever been and everything that is learned is instantly acquired by my brain. I have also learned many things yet to come. This have made my life horrible in many ways."

"I see."

"But I shall put this curse to one last use. I will give you the full power obtainable by a demon whisperer. Are you ready for your training?"

"I, have a slight problem. I was cursed by a demon manufactured by Shinigami. Using my magic allows this evil part of e to grow and become stronger. If it grows too strong it my take me over."

"Yes I am aware of this. All we have to do is conquer that side of you. If you can take control of that part of you, you will be much stronger than you are now."

"How do I do that?"

"Unfortunately that method required takes some time to prepare. It should be ready by tomorrow so you can actually wait until then. First I have some questions for you. Are you aware of what that sword and necklace are?"

"Huh? I was told that this sword was the first, the model for all swords that exist and this necklace belonged to my mother."

"Your mother had it did she. Did she ever say where she got it?"

"No I never asked, nor did I have much time, she died when I was very young."

"Well, that sword and necklace are very important. They are symbols of the royal court."

"The royal court?"

"Yes. The Shinpishugisha had a royal family, the first that traveled down to the world of mortals, giving up their immortality. They crafted three artifacts to use as symbols. One was the necklace, the symbol of the female side of the family, passed to either daughters or wives if there was no daughter. The sword passed to the first guard, the head of the of a different family that was charged with protecting the first. And an embroidered Haori, to be passed down to the males in the family. Somehow you managed to acquire two of them."

"Well what does that mean?"

"The necklace would declare you head of the family if it was passed down by blood or the wife of the head if not. The sword would deem you the strongest Shinpishugisha known."

"I had no idea."

"These two items will be important when the mist is cleared. If the Haori is not found it will be you who will retake the royal family."

"I'm really not interested in that sort of thing."

"I see."

"I am going to prepare dinner. Please rest. You will need as much strength as you have for your training tomorrow."

"Ok."

When Takuji returned he had a bowl of soup in his hands. He walked over to Rei and handed her the bowl. The look on his face said to eat it, but Rei was concerned as to why there was only one. Takuji should also be hungry so it made little sense for him not to have food. For some reason Rei trusted him and ate the soup. Shortly after she finished the meal Rei became very sleepy. As she tried to keep her eyes open she became weaker and weaker, until slowly she did not have enough strength to hold her head up. She slumped back against the wall of the room and fell asleep.

"And now I wait." said Takuji.

Rei awoke and wondered why\at was in the soup and why Takuji would have drugged her. Then she noticed that she was not in the same room as last night, but in a large empty void. She looked around confused at the endless sea of white that somehow still had a clear up and down. After a moment of searching she noticed that someone else was there.

"Who's there?"

"Really, you still haven't figured it out?"

"You? Where am I?"

"Your in your soul you idiot." said Rei's evil half. "Somehow or other you managed to travel to inside yourself."

"Inside my soul?"

"Yes. This is everything you are. Unfortunately your soul is pure and white. It really sucks. All I need to do is grow a little stronger and I can make it black and win over you. And you just made that easier for me."

"And how did I do that?"

"You came here. If I kill you here than I will take over this body. It will be amazing."

"And if I kill you?"

"Than you will have control and my power. I don't think it will happen that way though. I will win and take your power."

"And you are so confident why?"

"I have something you lack. The required skill to be victorious. I will kill humans, I am ruthless and I hold nothing back. You who are nice and don't like killing can never beat me."

Rei flashed behind her dark self and sliced at her back. Rei's evil side easily blocked.

"Such a basic move? You thought that would work."

"Nope." Rei said stepping back from your dark side. Rei then used the same technique she used on Hachi. Moving fast enough to make visual copies of herself all around her opponent in a dome shape. When Rei attacked her sword had enough force to cleave a person in half with all three strikes, and each one was blocked by her dark side.

"I am you, you fool. I know the weakness of that attack. I can see the change." Than Dark Rei vanished and reappeared above Rei and thrust down at her with the sword held in her left hand. Rei avoided it.

"Damn." said Rei. "How can I beat myself? She knows everything I do."

"It is of no use. There is no way you can win."

"By that logic you shouldn't be able to win either. This should be a stalemate indefinitely."

"Ha ha. You think so?"

Dark Rei held out her right hand and brought forth the bat demon. It flew at Rei and then unleashed its strong cutting wind than Rei barley avoided. When it attacked again Rei swung her sword with enough force to stop the wind and then flashed to kill the demon. After Rei dispatched the beast she landed on the ground and looked at her evil self.

"You can summon demons too huh?"

"Well of course. I am you after all."

"Damn. That just made this a lot harder."

Rei stood motionless trying to construct an idea that would allow her to win. There was no attack or technique she had that her dark side would be fooled by. She needed a tactic that was completely out of her normal scope of tactics. One that she wouldn't normally think of. Eventually her dark side attack her and Rei defended from her relaxed condition.

"Oh, that would have so much fun if it worked."

"You don't take this half seriously."

"Yes I do." and dark Rei summoned the fire demon in her left hand and sent it at Rei. The exact tactic that Rei used on San. Rei avoided the full force of the blast by flashing out of the way.

Despite Rei's best efforts she was unable to land a hit on her dark side. With that halves ability to use magic not impaired there was little Rei could do. Finally Rei had to stop and breath. As she stood there breathing heavily her dark side charged in and thrust at her chest. Rei tried to jumper over her evil self to avoid the attack, but was stabbed in the leg during the jump.

"Crap." said Dark Rei as she realized what had just occurred."

Rei was now suspended in the air by Dark Rei's sword. Using the control she now had on her opponent she rotated her hand over and thrust the blade down into Dark Rei just behind the clavicle. Dark Rei gasped out a few words.

"You let yourself get hit so I would be unable to defend myself. Damn, I never saw that coming."

"That was the point."

"I guess you do deserve to control this body. Enjoy your supremacy Rei."

"Thank you for making me earn it."

"Ha. Condescending to your enemies to the end huh? Damn you."

When Dark Rei disappeared Rei woke up back in the room that Takuji had brought her to. When she realized what happened she noticed Takuji exhale a sigh of relief.

"What happened?" asked Rei.

"I almost had to kill you."

"Why?"

"The time your were in there was almost at it limit. Any longer and I would have had to kill you t keep your evil side at bay. You mad it though."

"How long was I in there?"

"From the time I drugged you to just now? About twelve hours. You only really slept for one of them."

"That would explain why I am so tired after just waking up."

"Actually I'm surprised you are still conscious. Most people, when this happens they pass back out pretty fast. Maybe it's because you haven't stood up yet."

Rei barley heard the end to that statement as she fell back asleep on her spot on the wall.

When Rei awoke the next day she felt different that before. When she stood up she felt lighter and stronger. Her breathing was silent like Shinji's and everything looked clearer. Being confused as to why she looked around for Takuji. When she finally found him she tried to ask him about what she was feeling, but he responded before she could make a sound.

"It's what happens when you become whole. When a person acquires power there is always the split between the side that uses it for good and the side that uses it for evil. When you can control both sides you become whole and your power increases."

"That's amazing. This much more strength just from that."

"Don't be too amazed, there's still a lot more for you to do here if you want to beat Shinigami."

"Well lets not waste time then. Please teach me whatever it is you have to offer."

"Your very eager to learn. Ok lets begin." Takuji walked into the center of the large underground room and turned to look at Rei. "This room in below the training hall of the temple. So it will also be our training hall."

"Understood."

"Your training will be very difficult, I hope you live."

Rei stood silent.

"First summon a demon, anyone will do."

Rei held out her hand and the fire demon instantly formed in front of her. The process of summoning demons was greatly easier than before.

"Good." said Takuji. "Now, summon another one."

Rei nodded and released that demon and summoned the ice demon.

"I did not say to release one I said summon another one."

"I have tried before, summoning two demons at once is not something I can do."

"Did Kenji raise a student who gives up that quickly? Summon a second demon!"

"Yes." Rei replied.

Rei's attempts to summon two demons at once achieved less desirable results than she had wanted. The whole day was spent without bringing the skill any closer to completion. At the end of the day Rei dropped to her knees, exhausted by the day's training.

"Wow, I haven't had a training day like that in a while."

"This will be your goal for now. You cannot proceed to step two of the training until you can summon two demons at one time."

"I understand."

Rei spent that night meditating instead of sleeping. She was attempting to find the answer behind her problems. She felt that there must be a way to find the answer as to why she was unable to do this task. After a while of mediating she spoke with her demons about his problem. Unfortunately they had no answer. Next she tried to speak with the voice that gave her the Shinpishugisha powers. The voice that she had spoken with before about this strength. After quite some time she finally was able to reach the voice. Instead of speaking with the voice Rei heard a sound. The sound was that of a droplet of water falling into a lake. AS that sound echoed through her mind she opened her eyes.

"Is that it?" she asked. "Thank you very much. I would not have seen that on my own."

Takuji lay on the other side of the room and smiled when he heard Rei speak.

The following day Rei and Takuji attempted the training to summon two demons again. Rei again summoned the fire demon to start and then tried to summon the bat demon. It took a considerable amount of effort, but Rei was able to summon the second demon.

"You figured it out did you?"

"Yes. The trick is rather simple once you know it."

"And?"

"You don't know?"

"Usually people love telling there knowledge to others."

"The trick was understanding the demons energy. Until now I treated the demons as something separate from my own energy. I though of it as a support, as a helper. Almost as something unnecessary that was only convenient but not fully needed. When I realized that the demons were me, that their energy was entwined with mine, it was easier to summon two."

"Good. Now do it again. You took too long to bring out the second one." Takuji turned around and walked to the side of the room.

"Where are you going?"

"You don't need me standing here. I'm going to sit and have some tea. Now keep going."

"Yes sir."

Rei spent the next several days improving on her summoning ability. After about of week of fully exhausting herself everyday she was finally able to summon two demons at once without effort. Rei could summon one and then another or two at the same time. Takuji was pleased.

"Very good. You have progressed faster than I expected. Now summon three."

"Three?"

"Yes. Did you think we would stop at two? You have to keep going until you can summon all of your demons at the same time."

"Understood."

For the remainder of the month Rei trained at summoning her demons in larger and larger groups. She would summon and uncommon them in different sized groups for hours at a time to increase her stamina in using magic. As the month grew close to its end Rei was able to summon all her demons at once, but continued training. She was also learning to summon the demons without moving. Up until now she needed to raise a hand to summon the demon. She wanted to call forth her power from standing still so she could use it more covertly. At the end of the month she had achieved her goal. Rei could summon any and all of her demons at a single time without moving her body.

"Very good." said Takuji.

"Thank you sir. I am very grateful for what you have taught me."

"Don't be so formal it's not necessary."

"Alright." Rei said with a slight chuckle.

"Rei. There is one more thing you must do if you want to beat Shinigami."

"What is that?"

"You have heard about the Shinpishugisha trying to make demons that they could merge with correct?"

"Yes I have."

"Did you know that they succeeded?"

"No I was unaware."

"Follow me."

Takuji walked toward another door in the room that neither had goon in the entire month they had been underground training. Has Takuji walked Rei sensed something was terribly wrong. She tried to ask Takuji but again he spoke before she could say anything.

"The Shinpishugisha spent a very long time trying to create a demon that they could merge with. It took hundreds of years but they did eventually learn what the difference was between the and humans that was inhibiting the process."

"What was it?"

"Humans and Shinpishugisha have different energies that their bodies produce. A specific energy that the Shinpishugisha have, the one responsible for their powers, is on an opposite wavelength to that of the demons. This cancels the energy out and the demons cannot combine with Shinpishugisha."

"And how did they solve that problem?"

"With a large number of experiments they were able to figure out how to influence the energy produced by a demon. The only way to make one that was compatible with Shinpishugisha was to fuse many of them together. The degree of difficultly was far greater than they anticipated, and the demon they created was several times larger than a human. These massive giants had so much power they could not be controlled. They were like gods. Fallen gods that instead of accepting the human world as their own, as Shinpishugisha did, they hated the world. These creatures wish to destroy it, and if they were able to fuse with a Shinpishugisha, or were set free upon the world, they would have."

"What do you mean set free?"

"There were three of these demons produced. They were numbered 00, 01 and 02. The demon referred to as 00 was unstable and actually went berserk shortly after its completion. It was destroyed as a result. The location of 02 is unknown, but since the world is still here it must mean that it is under control somehow."

"And 01?"

"It, would be right here." Takuji said stopping in front of a large cage that was built into the rock.

The demon reacted to the presence of Takuji and Rei and moved. Its eyes glowed and it grabbed the cage bars. The scream was enough to shake the ground and make Rei have to brace herself to stay standing. Rei looked at the demon and her eyes widened.

"The problem with these demons is that they were too big and powerful for anyone to control so they had to be locked away. This temple was actually built for that purpose. The hope was that if it ever broke free the humans at this temple would be strong enough to stop the demon from destroying the earth."

"I have seen this thing before."

"You have?"

"Yes the night my village was attacked. Shinigami came and tried to kill us. A demon that looked like this one appeared and destroyed the wall that was around my village keeping the mist out."

"That explains it then. Shinigami must have 02. It is very possible that Shinigami is using the mist to control the demon."

"Does that mean he created it?"

"It could be. For some reason I am unable to learn anything about him or the origin of the mist."

"Damn I was hoping you would be able to tell me where it was coming from."

"Well I know that, but first you need to complete your task."

"Which is?"

"You must capture this demon."

"What?"

"As a demon whisperer you are able to control this demon like any other. You must tame this demon and take its power. If you can do that, you will have enough strength to beat Shinigami."

"I understand. And if I fail?"

"This demon will devour your and steal your power destroying the world with ease."

"Don't pressure me or anything."

"Go Rei, you must do this."

Rei calmly walked toward the cage. As she approached the demon roared again, but Rei continued to walk forward. Once she was inside the cage the demon stood on its hind legs. Standing up as best it could 01 was hunched over trying to fit in the cage. It swung one of its large hands at Rei, but Rei merely flashed forward to get close to it. Rei then jumped up to the demons head and placed her hand on its forehead.

Rei found herself inside the demons mind. She saw a disturbing mess of anger and hate that was so distorted she was unable to see her body. Other thoughts drifted into the demons mind and were instantaneously destroyed by the hate. Rei walked forward until she found the source of the negative energy in the demons mind. At the center of the emotion she found a child sitting alone facing the other way.

"What are you doing here?" Rei asked calmly.

The child did not answer.

Rei got closer and put her hand on the child's shoulder. "What are you doing here?" she asked again.

This time the child turned around and responded. "Go away." it said. The child was a small boy who could not have been more than tem years old.

"Please," said Rei, "Tell me what them matter is. There is too much hate around you for a child."

"I don't know who I am. These people took me away and said that I would be made into something great. They did horrible things to me. I became a monster."

"That sounds horrible."

"I hate them. They made me into this terrible thing. I want to kill them. I want to kill everyone." the boy said crying.

"I see." Rei said. "In order to make the demon they wanted they had to use a person as the base. I am sorry for what they did to you but please don't feel angry anymore."

"Why shouldn't I?"

Rei hugged the boy and his crying stopped. "Do not hate them. Forgive them for their ignorance. Chanel your power to something good."

The boy sat in awe at what Rei was saying. He words made him feel better and the mass cloud of hate started to disappear.

"There is another like you, you know. Lets use your power and free him from this torture."

"You want me to help them?"

"If there is anyone who can understand what they must be going through it's you. You should use this power to help those people. Please, let me use help you do it. When that task is done, when the world is free from its current evil, I will set you free from this place."

"I will be able to leave? I will be able to die?"

"Yes, but only if you help me. Please, your anger will bring you nothing."

"I understand. I will help you the promise to be set free."

"Thank you."

Outside the demon Rei was still suspended in air with her hand on it's forehead. A blue light shinned between her hand and the demon. The light grew until it engulfed the cage and tunnel. It was a pure warm light that made Rei and Takuji feel warm. 01 faded away and Rei fell very slowly back to the ground. When Rei landed she turned toward Takuji and smiled.

"He's free from his hate."

"That's good."

"Why didn't you tell me how they created these demons?"

"I thought it would be better if you found out yourself. Then the trust you built up with him would be more genuine."

"That makes sense." Rei said and then collapsed to the floor. "Damn, that took too much energy. I need to sleep for a while."

"Of course."

Rei awoke a few days later and felt better than she ever had. Similar to when she mastered her evil side she felt stronger and lighter. Rei looked over and saw Takuji sleeping at his usual spot.

"I wonder what time it is?" Rei asked herself. "It's so hard to tell down here."

Rei waited for a few hours until Takuji woke up. When he noticed that Rei was, and had been, awake he smiled.

"I see you recovered."

"Yes."

"Good. You have everything you need to beat Shinigami."

"Thank you again for all your help."

"There is a boat in a harbor a short distance east of here. Take this boat south to Kyushu. There you will find the location of the source of the mist. Be careful, Shinigami and his remaining men will be there and they will be strong."

"Yes thank you."

"Now go back and see your friends."

Rei bowed and walked out of the room toward the temple. Takuji looked up at the ceiling and exhaled.

"There, I've hung around long enough to help that girl. Am I finally done?" He went silent for a moment. "Thank you. I'll see you soon." Takuji said and smiled. After a brief pause Takuji fell over onto the floor dead.

Rei was back up inside the temple when she finally though about where Shinji and Asuka might be. She thought for a moment and then tried to feel where they were. Almost instantly she noticed That Shinji and Asuka were outside so she walked out to see them.

"Very good. You are quite fast. I think we will be able to beat them all now."

"Thanks Shinji."

"No problem."

"I see you can do the flash now!" called a voice from behind them.

* * *

Shinji and Asuka sat there silently listening to Rei's story. It was night and the moon was directly overhead. Asuka was speechless at what Rei had been through. Shinji eventually broke the silence.

"That is amazing. So you are about as strong as can be now huh?"

"Well I don't know about that."

"Yeah Rei your really strong now. We can definitely beat those guys. We should head out as soon as possible."

"We can leave tomorrow if we wish."

"Than lets do that." said Shinji. "I mean there is no point in waiting."

"Yeah. Your right. Tomorrow we head east to the sea. The we journey south to find Shinigami and taken the fight to him."

AOTHORS NOTE: There another chapter turned out much faster than the last. I finally incorporated a little bit of the Evangelion thing part with the three big demons, obviously the Eva's. I really liked this chapter because it did a lot in a short amount of time. The characters got stronger and the story is heading toward the end. With only a little left to go I hope I can finish the story soon. Next time the journey south toward Shinigami's castle.


	11. Chapter 11

When the next morning came Rei, Asuka and Shinji were wished off by the abbot and a few of the masters of the temple. Seiryuu and Futoshi in particular were there to wish them off. After a necessary round of goodbyes and good lucks the team went on their way. After a short walk away from the temple Asuka spoke up.

"Where was that guy that trained you? What did you call him Takuji? Why wouldn't he see us off?"

"I'm sure he had other important things to do." responded Rei.

"What could be more important than saying goodbye to someone he trained, someone that is going on a dangerous journey?"

"Probably saying hello to someone more important, Someone he hasn't seen in a long time."

Asuka was slightly confused with this answer. If the person showed up to the temple they weren't going away that soon. Before she could ask any other questions Shinji put his hand on her shoulder. Shaking his head Asuka understood that she should stop asking.

After a short walk of only half a day Rei, Asuka and Shinji reached the harbor that had the boat Takuji mentioned. Surprisingly the harbor was in perfect condition. When they got closer several men appeared from a building near the water. They were all dressed like members of the temple.

"You you three must be the ones Takuji sent here." said one of the three men.

"Yes we are. How did you know that?"

"They sent a messenger hawk." said another. "It flies high enough to escape the mist and then drops a weighted message. It arrived a short while ago."

"So that's what that was." said Shinji.

"You noticed it but didn't mention anything." replied Asuka.

"Well it didn't seem like a threat so it was no concern."

"So where is this boat we are taking?" Rei asked.

"You waste no time do you? Just like someone who was trained by the temple. Follow me."

The three men lead Rei, Asuka and Shinji to a dock that stuck out into the ocean. Asuka gasped at the sight of everything. She looked around like a small child being brought somewhere new. Since she had never seen the ocean or a boat everything was amazing. Shinji had never seen either as well, but he held his amazement at bay. Rei was still able to tell how excited he was.

The boat was much larger than they expected and even larger than Rei thought a boat could be. It was a grand ship with massive sails that stood about twenty feet high and the boat was at least twice that long. Rei, Asuka and Shinji stopped and gazed at the magnificent ship one of the three men stopped as well.

"It is amazing isn't it? That a ship like this can still exist. Long before the mist we were avid sailors a lot of trade was done via water ways. The only reason this ship has survived is because we have been here to care for it all this time and it is far enough out in the water that the mist can't get to it."

"Why would people guard a boat for over a hundred years?" asked Asuka.

"This ship is a symbol of the past, of what we once had. The mist took our lives and our freedom so we had to keep something. This way, if the mist ever vanishes, we still have it. We can sail to other towns and trade again. We can build more and revive the great past we had on the sea."

"What a great purpose you have for fighting." said Rei.

"Thank you. There are a few more of us on the ship preparing it. It will be a full job so you will just be able to sit and relax on the trip. Thee are rooms below deck for you. And again thank you for trying to destroy the mist. If you succeed we will have of dream realized."

"Your welcome, we will do our best."

Everyone got onto the ship and Rei, Asuka and Shinji were lead down below deck to their room. Even though this ship was very old it was in perfect condition. Every board was strong an had no wear or mold. As the crew worked to ready their first trip out to sea Rei, Asuka and Shinji waited down below.

"So this is it huh?" said Shinji. "We are finally going to get Shinigami and his men. We can finally free the world from this mist."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Asuka. "We can save everyone and set my home town free."

"As soon as we do I can go back and visit my sister. It has been almost a year since I left, I', sure she misses me."

"Why can't you just go back?" asked Shinji.

"I'm not sure if my village would let me back. And besides, after seeing just how big this world is, I think it would be fun to live somewhere else."

"We'll live together in that place right Rei?"

"Yeah."

"What are you going to do about the heritage associated with those item you carry?"

"Nothing. If there are enough Shinpishugisha left to even bother ruling over I'm sure that someone is actually in the bloodline of the royal family. If he or she comes forward I will hand over the artifacts to them so they can take your place."

"But I thought the necklace belonged to your mother."

"It did, but that doesn't mean that she was royalty. My father had the sword and he definitely was not the strongest warrior of a Shinpishugisha family."

"Good point."

Asuka stood up and lightly patted the dirt off of her. "I'll be back. The rocking of the ship is starting to get to me. I need more time to get used to it." Asuka said as she walked out of the room.

Rei and Shinji sat there silent for a moment or two before speaking again.

"You seem better Rei."

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"Ever since you came back from your training there is something different about you that just seems better. You seem more confident and focused. There is no more turmoil with the evil part of you. It just seems as though you lost an doubts you had about yourself and what your doing since you gained full control of yourself. I like it."

"Thank you. I think your right. I'm not questioning myself anymore. There is nothing in my head that says I might loose. Everything I had floating around in my head without a clear answer has settled. I know what I think now."

"And?"

"Shinji, Takuji said that when a person mastered both sides of themselves they became a lot stronger. You are always happy and don't ever seem to be bothered with conflicting thoughts. Did you already have a trial with yourself like mine?"

"I guess so. When I was learning to fight I was told outright it was about killing. I never thought about it because I was young and that's what I was told. No evil appeared like your because I calmed myself down to deal with the world. I guess in my act of emotion control I dealt with that issue at the same time. You never answered my question."

"I know." Rei said smiling.

"So your just messing with me? You know that my curiosity is going to bug me until I find out."

"Yup."

"Come on don't do that."

"Why not, it's fun."

Shinji and Rei were going back and forth like that for a short while. Between every exchange they laughed and their smiles grew. For the first time in a while they were truly laughing completely carefree. Eventually Asuka walked back into the room and quietly at back down. Asuka looked at the floor and didn't say anything to either Rei or Shinji.

"I'm going to ask one of the crew members if they know how to cure sea sickness." Shinji said standing up and walking out of the room.

After Shinji left Rei put her hand on Asuka's shoulder. "Are you alright Asuka?"

"There's nothing wrong with me and Shinji knows it."

"Then why are you acting like this?"

"How do you feel about Shinji?"

"What's this about all of a sudden?"

"I heard how you two were laughing and talking in here. What do you think of him? Do you love him?"

"Asuka I've told you before.."

"Don't lie to me!" Asuka interrupted. "You are going to be with Shinji when this is all over. You are going to leave me alone, break your promise to live together."

"Asuka I said we would live in the same town and I meant it. I would never break a promise to someone I care about."

"Do you really care about me or do you care about Shinji?"

"Asuka I care about both of you. The feelings I have for you and Shinji are completely different."

"Why Rei what's different?"

Rei sat silent for a moment and looked away from Asuka.

"You are the first and only friend I ever had Rei. Before you came along I had no one to talk to, no one to even see. I was alone. Then Shinji came and it seems like you are drifting away. I want to stay with you Rei and I don't want anyone to come between us."

"Asuka I.."

Rei was stopped mid sentence by Asuka who had thrown herself at Rei and kissed her. Rei's eyes widened in shock as Asuka hugged Rei tightly and held a strong kiss. Rei could feel Asuka's true emotions through it. Asuka not only viewed Rei as a dear friend but as someone that she truly loved. Asuka could not stand Shinji because he was on obstacle for her. Asuka held the kiss for a short while and then released it.

"I'm sorry Rei." she said quietly. "I know I shouldn't have done that, and I know you don't feel the same way, but I had to tell you how I felt. I needed to tell you before we went into our last fight. If when this is all done you want to be with Shinji I won't stop you. I will settle with living near you. Please just don't leave me completely."

"Asuka. I'm sorry I made you feel bad. I had no idea that you felt like that. I'm sorry I let that stir inside you for so long. If I had only been a better friend than I would have noticed. I hope you forgive me for what I've done."

Asuka hugged Rei again and cried into her chest. She was unable to say it, but she did not blame Rei for anything. Rei understood her friends thought and Asuka understood hers. The two girls stayed embraced like that for a while. Both were glad that they knew exactly how the other felt and that any and all tension or misgivings about the other were gone. Shinji stood outside the room leaning on the wall. His smile was as strong as always and he let out a small laugh.

"I'm glad she finally told her. Congratulations Asuka, you gust proved yourself stronger than me."

It took several days to travel down the coast from the temple harbor to Kyushu. Once there they we unable to find a place to go ashore.

"We have been in the right spot for days." complained Asuka to one of the crew members. "Why haven't we gotten off?"

"There is not a yet a good place to land. There are too many rocks and the mist is very powerful. I don't know if we can get you to the shore."

"Damn this sucks."

"I thank you all for your help." said Rei. "I can get us to the shore so please, take care of yourselves."

"You can? But how?"

"I am a Shinpishugisha remember? I have powers."

Rei summoned her ice demon and used it to form a massive bridge between them and the shore. The crew members gazed in awe at what thy had just seen. Asuka and Shinji jumped over board onto the ice path without a moments hesitation.

"Thank you again." said Rei.

"You just go and win alright?"

"Of course." Rei said and then jumped onto the ice.

Rei, Asuka and Shinji walked on the ice bridge over to the main island of Kyushu and looked around. The mist was much denser than what the had seen before. The land was barren and dead from the years of the mist lessening the amount of sunlight that reached the ground. They could tell that many demons had traveled by that spot in the past.

"I am suddenly very glad that the ship was not able to land." said Shinji.

"Why is that?" asked Asuka.

"The mist here may have been enough to kill them. They may have choked in the amount of it and all the evil that permeates the air."

"Yeah." responded Rei. "The mist must definitely be coming from near here. I can't imagine any other reason for it so be so much worse down here."

"Well now that we know that where do we go? Does Kenji's map say anything about down here?"

Rei pulled out the map and looked for anything that would help. "It doesn't look like he was here himself, but there is mention of a castle down here."

"Only mention?" questioned Shinji.

"He only wrote castle. He left out a small illustration like with all the other towns. All I can guess is that there was a castle down here and he was unsure if it still stood so he just wrote it."

"Well lets heads towards that then." said Asuka.

"It's the only clue we've got." agreed Shinji.

"Alright then, toward the castle it is. It looks like it is in the center of the main island so, that way." Rei pointed and began walking.

* * *

"Shinigami-sama," said Shi. "The three humans have made it to Kyushu. They are headed to the castle as we speak."

"GOOD. NOW WE CAN FINALLY GET RID OF THEM."

"Do you actually think they will make it to the castle?" Ichi said calmly. "The demons around here are so powerful that they may die before reaching us."

"That would work but it would be a little disappointing." said Ni. "I would love to take a swing at these guys since they seem so strong."

"AS LONG AS THEY ARE DEAD IT MATTERS NOT. IF THEY MAKE IT TO THE CASTLE INFORM ME AT ONCE."

"Yes Shinigami-sama."

* * *

A short time after they started walking Rei, Shinji and Asuka were attacked by a small group of demons. While there were only four of them they were quite powerful. The demons were very large, about twice the size of a human in height with gigantic limbs. Their fangs were as large as Shinji's knives and their claws only a little shorter. The four demons circled around the group to attack from all angles.

"Man this is a pain." said Asuka.

"Yeah I know." responded Shinji. "Now we have to decide who get to kill the odd demon out."

"Hpmh. As calm as always."

One of the demons attacked by swinging its massive claws at Asuka. She effortlessly flashed out of the way. When she reappeared behind it a large gash opened up on its body between the shoulder and neck. The demon roared out in pain as it fell to the ground. The other demons, angered by this action, attacked Rei and Shinji at the same time. Shinji attacked faster than the demon and sliced it many times in a lightning fast array of cuts. The demon dies without making a sound. Rei dodged one demon and killed the other by cutting it up the middle. The remaining demon tried to attack Rei again, but as it did its hand was cut off.

"Stupid thing, it forgot about me." said Asuka.

The demon cried out in pain as it bled profusely. Shinji silently severed the demons spin at the base of the head silencing the demon for good.

"Man that thing was loud."

"Do I really need to fight anymore?" asked Rei. "I should just let you guys do it."

"But then you'll get bored."

"True."

"Ok you two lets stop joking around and keep moving. We've got some evil guys to beat."

"Asuka's right let's go."

Rei, Shinji and Asuka continue to journey towards the suspected location of the castle. The trip would take only a few days as the terrain was mostly flat. The rate at which they were attacked was constant. For the three days that they journeyed there was almost no time when they were not fighting. In order to rest Rei used her snake demon to build a wall and her ice demon to complete it. While, due to the nature of their situation, they did not sleep fully, the sleep they got was much needed and allowed them to continue at such a pace. All during the day they ran toward their final destination they ate as they ran stopping only for brief moments if it were truly necessary.

On the morning of the fourth day Rei was beginning to wonder if the castle was really where they were headed.

"Damn, I hope I'm not wrong about where is castle is." She said as they ran.

"I don't think you are." said Shinji. "I think I see something just a short ways ahead of us."

Shinji was correct. After a few more minutes of running a large castle appeared from the mist. It was unlike anything they had ever seen. It was as if the castle itself was being controlled by a demon. The castle was constructed of the same crystal substance that their enemies were. With the size and shape of the castle it did not look as though it could have been built by humans.

"My god." said Asuka. "That thing is fricken huge."

"Yeah I can only imagine what is inside it." responded Rei.

When they got closer to the castle the group slowed to a walk and proceeded toward the main gate. As they got closer they began to ponder about how they would enter.

"Do you think we should just walk in through the main gate?" asked Rei.

"We could sneak in." said Shinji.

"Or we could break down the damn wall and run in, swords swinging." said Asuka.

"I like that plan." said Shinji.

"Who else thinks that they know we are here."

"We do." Shinji and Asuka replied in unison.

"Then I guess we will go through the front gate."

Suddenly and arrow flew towards Rei's head. Without batting an eye Rei caught the arrow from the air. Then a large cloud of arrows fell from the sky. Rei summoned her bat demon and used its wind powers to blow away all the arrows. The demon then flapped its wings again and sent out wind to cut whom ever had launched the attack. There were screams from many demons.

"They taught demons how to work human weapons." said Shinji slightly intrigued.

"Doesn't matter lets just get in." said Rei and they charged off to the gate.

Despite the gate being made out of the crystal demon armor they broke through rather easily. Rei, Asuka and Shinji all jumped into the air and did flying kicks to the gate at the same time. The gate fell down and without missing a step they all continued running. They charged through the yard where there was a large group of demons. Instead of fighting they simply cut down the demons directly in their path. Whether they killed them or not was not a concern, they only needed to get into the castle where their real opponents would be.

Eventually they did reach the main castle and Rei cut down the door to get in. As soon as they entered they noticed that the castle was composed of a single room floor with a large staircase at one end. In the center of the room on the first floor was Shi, standing as perfectly still and calm as ever.

"You have made it I see. Very good. To continue toward Shinigami-sama you will have to beat me and head underground."

"This will be a piece of cake." said Asuka confidently. "Rei let me take this guy."

"No." said Shinji. "Asuka you go with Rei further into the castle. I'll take Shi."

"But Shinji you.."

"Rei will need your help with the stronger enemies so please, leave this one to me."

"Ok Shinji. Let's go Rei."

Rei and Asuka ran past Shi without him moving. As they reached the stairs Rei called back, "Don't die Shinji." And they proceeded down the stairs and out of sight.

"It seems odd that you would send one weaker than yourself to stronger opponents. You have already beaten San but you still think your power is necessary to beat me. Why?"

"Because, your name is wrong."

"Oh?"

"If you names were given in order of strength like they have been you should either be much weaker than you are or San should have been stronger. The way you were able to dispatch Nana and destroy Oshu's windmills without trying, it was truly fascinating. What level are you really?"

"You are very observant. Yes I am stronger than San. I am also stronger than Ni. I hold enough strength to hid her of that name. I should be number two. Shinigami kept me number four to create a ace on his part. If any of the members of his team were to ever go against him other than Ichi than I could dispatch them. With my rank being lower than three others they would be falsely confident in a fight, and easily defeated."

"I figured it was something like that. So you are really Ni then huh? I was right to stay here, if I left Asuka, she would have been killed."

* * *

As Rei and Asuka descended into the castles basement they realized that it must go as deep into the earth as it rises up into the sky. After going down about five levels they saw someone in the center of the room. It was a woman dressed like the rest of Shinigami's men. She had long black hair that was pulled back into a pony tail and large breasts. Her demon armor was half of a mask that covered only the left side of her face. In front of her, stuck in the ground, was a large sword. It was slightly longer than a normal sword and was quite a bit winder. It would have been very difficult, if impossible, for an ordinary human to lift it.

"Good day, I'm Ni, the second of Shinigami-sama's henchmen. You are the Shinpishugisha girl and the human. I'm surprised you are here, I expected Shi to last longer. His orders were to stop anyone who stands against him."

"He's fighting Shinji. He was the only one who actually stood against him."

"So that guy is following the orders exactly as spoke. That's why he's weak." Ni stood up and pulled her sword from the ground. "I on the other hand am strong and wont let either of you pass alive."

* * *

Shinji and Shi stood facing each other without moving for several minutes. Shi's face was empty and Shinji kept his smile. After their stand off Shinji moved first and flashed toward Shi. Shinji attacked at his shoulder with a kick and Shi easily blocked it. Shinji's attack was very slow and weak. Shinji continued to attack in that manner. He would flash to a different side of Shi and throw one weak strike. Shi blocked each attack without moving anything but an arm, his feet never left their spot o the ground. After about twenty or so attacks like this Shinji flashed a few feet away from Shi and again stopped moving.

"That was pointless." said Shi flatly. "If you thought those attacks would hurt me than you are more of a fool than I thought."

"Hurt you? Oh god no. Defeat you, that I thought would happen. And I am right too. Look at your arm."

Shi moved his eyes down at his arm and noticed small needles in various spots in it.

"What is this?"

"Those are acupuncture needles. It will be hard to notice but they are all over your body. I attacked softly so I could place them properly. Where they are located a normal person would not only be unable to move but would have died by now."

"Since that has not occurred it means your plan was ineffective."

"No its just slow." Shinji said pausing for a moment. "Each of those needles is coated with a powerful paralytic that, under normal circumstances, would paralyze a person with only one small prick. Since you are much stronger and have that demon it's just taking longer. Since the placement of the needles will paralyze you combined with the poison you too will die from this."

"Is that so?"

"It is. As the poison slowly moves through your body everything will stop. Your skeletal muscles and then your involuntary ones. You will be unable to breath and then your heart will stop. I'm sure that even one such as yourself will die from that. It's quite the underhanded trick, but whatever gets the job done." Shinji smiled again. "You, like all the others, will die without making a sound."

"Hmph." Shi said calmly. "Your assumption would be correct if I were truly at the level of four, but I am not." Shi paused for a moment and closed his eyes. Upon reopening them he said, "Demon armor transfer, true form."

The crystal armor that Shi wore, glowed and changed. It shrunk from its size of the entire right arm to only covering the forearm. When this happened all the needles Shinji placed on Shi's body fell off and a powerful gust of wind emanated from Shi. Shinji stood is ground during Shi's change in power and his smile did not change.

"So, your hiding power too." said Shinji calmly.

* * *

Ni flashed toward Rei and Asuka and swung her massive sword down at them. Asuka intercepted the attack with her spear and Rei attacked Ni while she was engaged. Ni dodged Rei's attack and swung her sword at her. Asuka used that time to attack Ni. This battle continued for several exchanges with no injuries of either side. Eventually Ni jumped back from Rei and Asuka.

"So that's your plan is it? Use your ability to work as a team against a single opponent. How cute and totally useless. When you guys fought Nana Shi recorded everything. I know how you two fight and how to defend against it. You can't win."

"Funny," said Asuka, "San said the same thing."

Ni attacked Asuka again, but this time much faster. Asuka was able to block, but was fighting back the weight and force of Ni's attack with all her strength.

"You think you can beat me because you beat San? You are sadly mistaken."

"Are we?" Rei asked.

Ni looked around to see Rei and almost missed her. Rei had ducked in front of Asuka between her and Ni. Rei thrust her sword up at Ni's stomach. Ni was able to avoid the full attack but did receive a deep cut on her side as she dodged.

"Damn you!" Ni yelled as she backed away in pain. "Have to use this then don't I?"

"Use what?" asked Asuka.

"Hehe." Ni laughed. "This."

Ni put her left hand over the mask she wore. AS she closed her hand into a fist a jewel appeared in the eye of the mask and glowed red. A sudden weight was felt by Rei and Asuka. It was as if the air had become heavy and was pushing down on them. Ni again began to laugh.

"You idiots thought there was nothing special about us?" Ni said in between laughs. "All of Shinigami's men rank four and above have powers that come from special demons. You've seen in before right? San's wings and all his devices, Shi's ability to destroy, and now mine." Ni stood up fully. "The all seeing eye."

"The all seeing eye?" Rei asked.

"Yes. This eye of mine allows me to into your minds. With it I can see what you are thinking and how you will attack. Now there is no way to win. I will know your moves before you do."

* * *

"Hiding power too?" questioned Shi. "So you say you are also hiding power? I think you are lying. If you had more power you would have used it by now, especially in you fight with San. You would not have let the Shinpishugisha use her power if you did not have to."

"And why is that?"

"Because you are human, and humans would not purposely let someone close to them experience pain."

"Wow, I was unaware that you still knew what it was like to be human."

"I don't and never did. This I information gained from years of observation."

"I see. Well in most cases you'd be right. A person would not want someone they care about to be in pain. Unfortunately for you I am not normal. I have not been since I become a warrior of the shadows. We will sacrifice anything to maintain or deception."

"Interesting. So you are as inhuman as I am."

"No. I just never wanted them to have to see this."

At the exact moment the last sound escaped Shinji's lips he was behind Shi. He stood like he was talking to him, his arms t his side, knives drawn. Shi had his arms up in an X as if blocking and large cuts appeared down his arms. The blood sprayed a few seconds after the cuts opened delayed by the speed at which they were formed. There was no blood in Shinji's blade, no evidence that he had even moved other than his change in position. His movement and Shi's wound were like magic.

"This is what my true power is. The skill I have been suppressing all this time. The Shukuchi. I am actually surprised, that you were able to block my attack at that speed."

* * *

Ni attacked Rei and Asuka with increased speed. Even with this Rei and Asuka were able to counter attack, but as soon as they moved Ni struck back stopping their counter. They were being pushed around like dolls, never able to do than block and attempt an attack.

"Damn!" said Asuka. "We can't move because of her damn eye. What are we gonna do?"

"Asuka's right." Rei said to herself. "If that power of hers is true than she knows what I'm thinking right now. There has to be a way there just has to."

"No. Your out of luck." Ni said in response to Rei's though. She thrust her sword at Rei with one hand and held the sword out. Rei and Asuka jumper back. "There is nothing you can do. My eye can see the moves of ten people at once. You cannot win. You will die and I will know exactly when. Would you like me to tell you when you will die? Not like I have been but exactly when. I'll be nice and I'll even stop to tell you. What do you say?"

"Shut up you annoying bitch!" yelled Asuka. "I can't stand you and your cocky ass attitude."

"My my what a foul mouth she has."

Rei paused for a moment and smiled. "I think we can beat her Asuka."

* * *

Shi dropped his hands, the wounds ceasing to bleed. He spoke to Shinji without turning his head or changing his inflection.

"Very impressive human, that speed is unlike anything I have seen in a long time but," Shi flashed in front of Shinji as fast as Shinji flashed behind him, "it is hardly a Shukuchi."

Shinji blocked the attack thrown by Shi. The moved around the room using the heightened flash. At each connection of attacks they would stop for the briefest of moments and a large pulse of wind would be released. If a person were watching all they would notice was the wind emanating from nowhere.

"I must say human," Shi said at one of their exchanges, "you are much more powerful than I expected."

Shi stopped suddenly on the ground and Shinji did the same. The stared each other down for a few moments before Shi spoke again.

"I must kill you now. Do not worry, it will be quick."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

Shi swung his right hand horizontally as Shinji. Remembering what Shi did last time with that motion Shinji flashed out of the way, off to the right side of Shi. A large cut appeared in the wall of the room in front of Shi. The cut was level with Shinji's chest.

"Very good." said Shi. "You have amazing reflexes to be able to dodge that. Unfortunately that was the power of me at level four. Now you will level two of my Izuna."

"Izuna. I see. You can channel your energy into your fingers and force it out through the air. This forces a rapid expansion of gasses that cuts through objects. Very nice. By the angles of the cuts to the wind mills in Oshu I can determine that you can control precisely when the expansion occurs and what it cuts and I correct?"

"You power of deduction is quite advanced. Even Ichi could not figure it out so quickly. Unfortunately knowing this will not save you. You will only know exactly what kills you."

* * *

"So you think you can beat me?" asked Ni. "And how would that be? Oh come on now say something, think it. Either way it doesn't matter, you can't tell your friend or even think of telling your friend because I'll know. If you did have an idea there is nothing you can do with it."

"We'll see." Rei said and charged at Ni.

"_Flash straight in an strike for her throat."_ were Rei's thoughts that echoed in Ni's head. She easily blocked the attack. _"Flash from the block and deliver a thrust to her kidney."_

"I think not." said Ni in response to Rei's thoughts. When she turned around expecting to block a strike she saw Asuka swinging were spear from the right towards her. Ni blocked it but again heard a thought from Rei.

"_While she's distracted attack from the air."_

Ni looked up and motioned to block an attack, but Rei was not there. Instead Rei was behind her and attacking her from behind. Ni flashed across the room to avoid the strike. Asuka joined the attack strategy. They thought openly about things different than what they were actually going to do. Ni was thrown off slightly by this tactic. Her responses were for the thoughts of her foes and she almost failed to block or avoid the real attacks. Eventually Rei and Asuka attacked Ni at the same time and Ni blocked them both. With a strong swing Ni threw them both off and across the room.

"You think that will work do you? Disguising your actions with other thoughts? Well it wont." Ni put her hand over her face again. "Try this, all seeing eye level two." The mask on the left side of Ni's face grew and spread over her entire face. Both eyes glowed red and Ni laughed behind the mask. "Now you can't win. Even if you think something different than what you are doing it wont work."

"What?" gasped Asuka. "What is this?"

"This is the second level of my all seeing eye. With this I will know what you are really up to."

"How?" asked Rei.

"To move you have to use your brain to stimulate your muscles. Since your attacks are voluntary there has to be a message sent by the brain. My true all seeing eye can hear them and filter it out from you open thoughts. Now I will know everything you think even if you are unaware that you are really thinking it."

"Damn." cursed Asuka.

"If you don't mind me asking," said Ni, "how did you two match your attack styles without communication? There are too may things about your group that we were not able to answer."

"That's easy." said Rei.

"If it' someone you love you know what they are thinking." continued Asuka.

"Love? Ha. Don't make me laugh. What a stupid idea. As if a arbitrary construct like that could really allow you to do anything."

"You'd be surprised." said Rei.

"No matter. I will have to finish killing you now that I've got my answer."

Ni flashed at Rei and struck at her with a downward diagonal swing from the right. Rei did not move. Ni stopped, a sword pierced flesh and blood sprayed. Asuka gasped at the sight before her with no idea what had just happened. She could not believe what she was seeing.

* * *

The room was covered in large gashes made by Shi's Izuna. Shinji was barley able to avoid the attacks. Shi was able to cast this attack with both of his hands, and switched back and forth between a large cutting motion and a focused point of damage like what he used to kill Nana. Shinji was only able to avoid being hit as well as he was by watching Shi's hands. Since Shi's Izuna traveled in relation to his fingers Shinji could stay out of the way by know how they were moving and in what direction.

"You can run very well human." said Shi. "But soon you will miss a step. You will tire out and I will kill you."

Shi flashed behind Shinji and grabbed his shoulder. He then pointed at Shinji trying to stab him in the back with his Izuna. Shinji pushed Shi's hand just far enough to move the attack past his body, it missed by less than a centimeter. Shinji then spun out of the hold and struck at Shi who avoided the attack effortlessly.

"Damn." Shinji said still smiling. "You almost had me there."

"You should cease smiling human. You wont be able to evade me any longer."

"Is that so? And why is that?"

"I have one last power you have yet to see."

* * *

Blood dripped onto the floor that had made its cut. Ni stood in front of Rei her sword blocked by her snake demon. Rei had her sword stabbed through Ni's abdomen and out her back. Asuka was shocked at how Rei was able to accomplish this and Ni was just as frustrated.

"How did you do that?" Ni asked angrily. "There was no thought in your mind at all. It was completely blank."

"Self preservation." replied Rei.

"What?"

"A while ago when I said that we would be able to beat you, it wasn't because of a cleaver plan but of a small observation. When Asuka yelled at you, you reacted ever so slightly. There was a small facial movement that most people would have missed, you probably didn't even realize it. It told me you were surprised."

"What?"

"Now why would you be surprised if you could read out minds? The only answer was of how Asuka reacted. Asuka's anger and outburst were reflexive. Reflexes have no brain involvement and therefore nothing for you to hear."

"But that doesn't explain how you summoned a demon without thinking."

"You haven't been listening have you? It was a reflex, but not mine. It was the demons reflex. The demon is a part of me so if I die it dies. It acted reflexively out of self preservation, the same way a human will put up its hands when something comes at its face."

"Are you saying you knew the demon would respond like that and used it?"

"Of course. I was worried at first when you activated your true all seeing eye, but apparently for no reason. Now have made the first serious wound of the battle. Even if I don't hit you again the damage to your kidney I caused will kill you. We've won, just like I said."

"Yeah Rei nice job!"

Ni grabbed Rei's sword and pulled it out of her. She stepped back from Rei and the demon wall disappeared.

"You think a small injury like this will stop me? I am the second strongest under Shinigami. I cannot be killed by humans."

Ni charged in at Rei again and swung her sword at her body. Rei jumped back to avoid. Ni charged further in at Rei. Asuka flashed by in front of Ni causing her to stop suddenly. Asuka smiled and tapped her spear on the ground. Ni's mask shattered and fell onto the floor in pieces. Ni's eyes widened in horror.

"I was tired of that whole, you can read our minds, crap. Now you can't. we don't need anymore tricks and sleights like Rei used. We can win by sheer power now."

"But, but how?" Ni asked in fear. "How did I not notice your intensions? The all seeing eye is perfect."

"You idiot! You can read our minds but you have a single clue about what yours does. You were to focused on Rei since she stabbed you and you forgot about me. All of you mind reading was directed at her and I was free to do what I wanted. No your mine."

Asuka turned around and attacked Ni who was able to block her attack. Rei attacked her while she was engaged with Asuka. Ni was still able to block her attack as well. After those two attacks Ni fell to one knee and thrust her sword into the ground to stay up. She began shaking violently and she grabbed the left side of her face. Her breathing rate increased and her heart pounded. Then, she coughed up blood.

"What is happening?" asked Asuka.

"I think, she's dieing." replied Rei.

Ni trembled more and more and started gasping for air. Her body started to age right there. She started as what looked like a twenty something and in under a minute went to the appearance of an old woman. The aging continued and her body deteriorated. Unable to hold onto the sword Ni fell to the ground and her body collapsed into dust. Only her clothes and her sword were left.

"What happened? Why did she..?"

"It was because you destroyed her armor." replied Rei. "That armor is the demons that were keeping them alive. When you destroyed it there was nothing there to stop her from aging for the past hundred years or so. In your act to stop her power, you ended the battle. Nice going Asuka."

"Wow, thanks. I had no idea that would happen."

Rei put her hand on Asuka's shoulder. "Stop thinking about it and come on. We have to keep going and get to Shinigami."

"But what about Shinji? If he's not here yet that means he still fighting and.."

"We can't go back for him. He can take care of himself and would want us to keep going. When he finishes he'll come join us." Rei paused for a moment. "And he wouldn't want us to stop for him anyway, so lets go."

"Ok Rei." Asuka replied and they ran off toward the stairs. Asuka understood what Rei just went thought uttering those words. She knew her friend wanted to go back for Shinji but they couldn't. Rei made that decision from a tactical stand point of the battle, not with her feeling. This was something Asuka could not do, she knew just how hard it was.

* * *

"One more power huh?" said Shinji. "Now what could that be?"

Shi appeared in front of Shinji in an instant and thrust his hand into Shinji's chest. Shinji coughed from the blow.

"This. My speed is greater than yours. Did you really think that a human could be faster than me? Now die."

Shi sent out an Izuna straight through Shinji making a large hole in his chest. Shinji coughed up blood and his head slumped forward. Shi stood there without moving. In that instant Shi noticed that Shinji's body had vanished and only his kimono was present. Shi's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Damn, I didn't think I would have to use that trick." Shinji said behind Shi.

"What was that just now?" Shi asked. "I was sure I hit you. I felt the impact. I did not strike an illusion."

"Well apparently you did because I'm right here and I have no hole in my chest."

"Yet your kimono is still here which means you were. What did you really do?"

"Fine I'll let you know. It was full sensory manipulation. It the instant before your hand hit my body I cast this illusion on you. It let your mind think that it hit me because that is what it thought would happen and it did feel a contact with something, just not me. Using speed I moved fast enough to get out of the kimono and behind you. Since your attack was so fast the kimono had no time to change position so everything seemed right to you. I am a warrior of the shadows, the largest shadows are inside someone's own mind. That is what being a master allows you to do."

"I saw your speed. You were not fast enough to move away as you described. There must be something missing from your explanation."

"Yes there is. Your calculation was off. You said what I did was not Shukuchi but a very powerful flash and you were half right. What I did was two steps short of the Shukuchi, that's why your were able to see it. The real Shukuchi is something I never wanted to use, but you leave me no choice."

Shinji was in front of Shi the instant he finished his sentence, it was hard to tell if it was truly after he finished. An onlooker may have thought that Shinji was truly in two places at once. Shi had cuts on the left side of his neck severing the carotid artery and a cut on his left side cutting the kidney. He also had a stab wound in the center of his back severing the spin and one between the ribs puncturing the liver. Shi's body relaxed slightly and the disintegrated into dust, his arm band of demon armor falling to the ground a breaking in half.

"That is the true Shukuchi. A technique to fast that it is untraceable by anyone except its master. It can literally cover a distance in less than an instant. That combined with the speed and accuracy of my attacks, were you even aware that you had died Shi?" Shinji said looking up at the ceiling still smiling. "I'm just glad Rei and Asuka never had to see me like that. They don't need to know the full extent of my abilities." Shinji looked over at his kimono that was on the ground. "Now I'm gonna need a new one. Oh well."

Shinji walked over to his kimono and put it back on. After adjusting it properly he glanced at the hole in the back.

"No, I can just patch it." he said.

Shinji sat down in the room and again tiled his head up at the ceiling. "I should catch up with Rei and Asuka. Since they won that means only Ichi and Shinigami are left. Shinigami will have to be taken down by Rei and Ichi? He's stronger than Shi so I'll have to use the Shukuchi again. I hope Rei and Asuka aren't to frightened by it."

* * *

Rei and Asuka continued to run through rooms and down stairs. Thirty minutes had passed since they defeated Ni and still they had seen no other enemies or any sign of a target.

"How far have we gone?" asked Asuka as they ran.

"In total since we started I say we've gone down about thirty flights of stairs."

"Damn how deep is this place?"

"No idea. I think we should just keep moving until we find something. Since there aren't any side paths we have to run into Ichi or Shinigami eventually."

"Do you think Shinji will catch up soon?"

"I'm sure he will yeah. Lets not worry about that and just worry about our goal ok."

"Right."

Rei and Asuka continued to descend the underground castle for another thirty minutes. After that time they found themselves in a room that was different that the others. It was well lit like the room that Rei trained with Takuji in. On the other was a figure dress entirely in black with a hood so no one could see its face.

"YOU HAVE MADE IT I SEE. MY SOULDERS WERE SO INCOMPITANT. NO MATTER, I WILL SIMPLY CREATE MORE ONCE I KILL YOU."

"Shinigami." Rei said with a serious tone. "I've finally found you again. You will pay for what you did to my village and to the rest of the world. I will kill you and destroy the mist."

Rei drew her sword and took her attack stance. Shinigami smiled and pulled back his hood.

AUTHORS NOTE: Oh cliff hanger. I know a pain but there's nothing I can do. A lot of important things are going to be reviled in the next chapter and I can't cram them into this one. I know there must be a lot of questions right now concerning everything from the background of this story to where the heck is Ichi? All will be answered soon I promise. Next time the truth reviled, the final battle with Shinigami.


	12. Chapter 12

Shinigami pulled off his hood reviling his face for the first time. His skin was pale white and his eyes red. His hair had lost its blue color and was dull, almost gray. Rei and Asuka were shocked.

"A Shinpishugisha?" Asuka said in amazement.

"YES, I AM A SHINPISHUGISHA. IS IT REALLY THAT ODD/ YOU'VE BEEN MEETING US A LOT LATELY."

"What? You know about Takuji?"

"OF COURSE I KNOW ABOUT THAT IDIOT. HE WAS MY BROTHER."

"Your brother?"

"YES. IT WAS A LITTLE OVER TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO WHEN WE WERE BORN. BOTH OF US WERE CONSIDERED TO BE THE BEST THAT OUR RACE HAD TO OFFER. TAKUJI WITH HIS ENDLESS KNOWLEDGE AND ME WILL ALL MY POWER."

"All your power. No. are you the demon whisperer that Takuji talked about?"

"VERY PERCEPTIVE. YES I AM. YOU AND I ARE THE SAME. IF YOU ONLY KNEW WHAT THAT POWER COULD ALLOW YOU TO DO."

"If you are as old as you say how did you both survive until now?"

"OF ALL THE THINGS YOU COULD WONDER THAT'S IT. COME ON, I KNOW THERE ARE MORE PRESSING QUESTIONS ON YOUR MIND. VERY WELL I WILL TELL YOU. IT WAS ABOUT TWENTY YEARS AFTER I WAS BORN THAT IT BEGAN."

"What did?"

"THE EXPERIMENTS. OUR KIND HAD LONG WANTED TO GAIN WHAT HUMANS HAD. THE ABILITY TO FUSE WITH THE DEMONS AND GAIN MORE POWER. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS TASK THEY TRIED ANYTHING UNTIL ONE DAY THEY FOUND A MEANS TO MAKE IT WORK. IT WAS THE MIST."

"So that means.." Asuka stammered.

"That the mist was our fault." Rei replied her stance weakening.

"YES, AND NO. YOU SEE THE MIST WAS JUST BUILT AS A CATALYST FOR THE EXPERIMENTS THEY WERE CUNDUCTING. WITH IT THEY WERE ABLE TO CREATE DEMONS OF EXTRAORDINARY POWER. IT WAS FANTASTIC. UNFORTUNATELY THEY WERE NEVER ABLE TO CREATE ONE THAT WE COULD ACTUALLY FUSE WITH. EVEN WHEN WE USED A HUMAN AS THE BASE FOR THE DEMONS CREATION IT DID NOT WORK. IT HAD TOO MUCH POWER AND THEREFORE WAS GIGANTIC. I TRUST YOU HEARD ABOUT THESE DEMONS."

"Yes, from Takuji."

"AND HE TOLD YOU ONE WENT BERSERK AND DIED DIDN'T HE?"

"Yes."

"WELL HE WAS WRONG. IT ACTED AS IT WAS TOLD, BY ME."

"What?"

"SEE, I REALIZED THAT ALL OF THOSE EXPERIMENTS WERE POINTLESS. SHINPISHUGISHA, OUR ANCESTERS, WERE FOOLS. THEY LEFT THEIR PLACE IN THE WORLD OF THE GODS TO BECOME MORTAL AND HAVE ALL THE SAME GIFTS AND LOVE FROM THE GODS THAT HUMANS GOT. AND OF COURSE THEY GOT NONE OF IT. AS IF THE GODS WOULD ALLOW THEM EXTRA POWER FOR DEFECTING. WHEN THEY CREATED THE MIST THAT WAS WHEN I GOT MY IDEA."

"What was that? What are you talking about?"

"I WOULD TAKE BACK OUR PLACE AS GODS. NO, I WOULD TAKE OVER AS A GOD. I SET THE DEMON FREE AND IT DESTROYED THE CONTAINMENT FOR THE MIST. I KILLED THE CREATURE AFTER IT SERVED ITS USEFULNESS. WHEN THE MIST SPREAD OUT OF CONTROL OVER THE WORLD I KNEW I WOULD BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE MY GOAL, BUT THAT DAMN TAKUJI RUINED EVERYTHING."

"What do you mean."

"TAKUJI AND THAT DAMN POWER OF HIS WAS ABLE TO SEE MY PLAN COMING. SINCE HE KNEW HE COULD NOT DEFEAT ME HE DID ALL HE COULD TO HALT MY PLAN. TOLD VILLAGES TO BUILD WALLS AROUND THEMSELVES, BUILT WINDMILLS IN OSHU, SENT YOUR VILLAGE INTO THE MOUNTAIN. BY THE TIME I REALIZED HE HAD DONE THESE THINGS IT WAS TOO LATE. THE MIST HAD SPREAD AND I WAS UNABLE TO GO TO THOSE PLACES."

"So, all those stories were about Takuji?" questioned Rei. "Then, he is the reason there are so many of us alive today."

"YES, BUT I AM WHY THERE ARE SO FEW SHINPISHIGISHA LEFT. I LET IT BE KNOWN THAT IT WAS THEIR FAULT THE MIST WAS SPREADING, KILLING SO MANY PEOPLE. THE GENOCIDE WAS CAUSED BY ME. IN ALL OF MY MASTER PLAN THE SHINPISHUGISHA WERE THE ONLY CRUTCH."

"So it's your fault? It is because of you my mother had to hide her whole life. It's because of you our kind is hated. Because of you I have no home."

"OH SO SAD. YES IT WAS ALL ME."

"So what was the point of all this? Why cover the world in mist and kill off your entire race?"

"SIMPLE REALLY. TO TAKE BACK WHAT WAS MINE TO BEGIN WITH."

"What?"

"THE SHINPISHUGISHA USED TO BE GODS AND THEN STUPIDLY LEFT THEIR PLACE. I WANTED IT BACK. THE ONLY WAY TO DO THAT WAS WITH THE MIST. UNFORTUNATELY I NEEDED TIME. BECAUSE OF TAKUJI'S INTERFEARANCE MY PLANS HAVE BEEN DELAYED UP UNTIL NOW. THAT'S WHEN I LEARNED THE SECRET TO ETERNAL LIFE."

"Eternal life?"

"YES. BY SACRIFICING DEMONS TO MYSELF I WAS ABLE TO TAKE THEIR LIFE FORCE AND CONTINUE LIVING. THAT WAS THE ONLY WAY."

"That's great and all, but what the hell were you trying to do?" asked Asuka.

"I TOLD YOU. BECOME A GOD. IN ORDER FOR ME TO DO THAT I NEEDED POWER. THERE WERE TWO WAYS TO ACHIEVE MY GOAL. ONE WAS TO BLANKET THE WORLD IN MIST AND SACRIFICE ONE MILLION HUMANS POSSESSED BY DEMONS AT A SINGLE TIME AND TAKE ALL THEIR POWER. THEN I WOULD HAVE ENOUGH STRENGTH TO BECOME A GOD AND RULE FROM THE HEAVENS."

"Sacrifice, one million humans and demons?"

"YES, BUT UNFORTUNATELY TAKUJI RUINED THAT PLAN. PLAN TWO WAS TO CREATE WARRIORS STRONG ENOUGH SO THAT THEIR POWER WOULD BE EQUAL TO THAT LARGE NUMBER OF HUMANS AND DEMONS. THAT'S WHERE MY MINIONS CAME IN."

"So all of your men, the ones we've been fighting, were going to be sacrifices for you?"

"YES. THOSE IDIOTS FOLLOWED ME WITHOUT QUESTION BECAUSE I GAVE THEM POWER. THEY WERE ALL SO SCARED OF BEING WEAK AND DIEING BUT WHEN I OFFERED THEM A CHANCE THEY TOOK IT. SHI WAS THE ONLY EXCEPTION WE WANTED A PURPOSE. HE WAS AN EMPTY HUMAN WHEN I FOUND HIM, THAT'S WHAT MADE HIM SO LOYAL. HE THOUGHT I ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT HIM."

"Even with these strong warriors under you, you still tried to engulf the whole world in mist why?"

"THEY DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH POWER. IT WAS STILL SHORT SO I WAS LOOKING TO ADVANCE IT ALONG. EITHER MAKE MORE HENCHMEN OR BRING THE ENTIRE WORLD UNDER, WHICH EVER HAPPENED FIRST."

"You would kill that many people, or those who worship you, just for power?"

"YES."

"And to think someone as strong as Takuji was your brother."

"AS STRONG AS HIM. HA! DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH. HE WAS WEAK. DO YOU KNOW WHY HE LIVED AS LONG AS HE DID?"

"No. How?"

"I KILLED HIS WIFE AND CHILD. IN HIS FIT OF DESPAIR HE VOWED TO KEEP ON LIVING UNTIL HE FOUND A WAY TO STOP ME. AND NOW HE;S DEAD. WHICH MEANS HE THINKS YOU CAN BEAT ME."

"You killed his wife and child!?" exclaimed Asuka. "How could you do something like that to your own brother!?"

"THEY WERE OBSTACLES. THEY HAD TO BE ELIMINATED."

"None of that matters anymore Shinigami." said Rei strongly. "All but one of your henchmen have been killed and many areas are free from the mist forever. You can't reach your goal either way."

"AH NOW THAT'S WHERE YOU COME IN."

"What do you mean?"

"YOU WERE FOOLISH ENOUGH TO BRING THE REMAINING ARTIFACTS TO ME."

"What?"

"THE SWORD OF DIVINE STRENGTH AND THE NECKLACE OF ROYAL POWER. THE TWO THAT I THOUGHT WERE GONE FROM THIS WORLD." Shinigami took off his cloak and reviled a black kimono and hakama. He also wore a blur Haori with a large black dragon embroidered on the back. "THIS IS THE SYMBOL OF THE SHINPISHUGISHA ROYALTY, THE HAORI OF HEAVENLY WISDOM. WITH ALL THREE I WILL HAVE ENOUGH POWER TO REGAIN MY PROPER PLACE AS A GOD. ALL I HAVE TO DO IS KILL YOU. THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY GOAL SO EASY TO OBTAIN."

"There is no way your going to beat me Shinigami."

"WHY? BECAUSE YOU MASTERED YOUR SKILL AS A DEMON WHISPERER? YOU THINK YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE. I HAVE BEEN ALIVE WITH THAT POWER FOR SO MUCH LONGER, MY POWER IS DEFINITELY GREATER."

Rei was calm despite Shinigami's remark. She stood her ground, her stance back to its proper form. Her eyes pierced toward Shinigami with full intent to kill. Rei was ready to use everything she had to defeat Shinigami.

"OH SO IS THAT IT?" asked Shinigami. "YOU THINK THAT BECAUSE YOU HAVE ONE OF SHINPISHUGISHA MADE DEMONS YOU CAN WIN. HOW CUTE. THERE WERE THREE REMEMBER? I KILLED ONE AND YOU CAN CONTROL ONE. WHERE IS THE THIRD? I CONTROL THAT ONE."

Asuka's mouth dropped upon hearing this news. When Rei described the power she felt upon obtaining this demon she was amazed and thought she could win easily with it. Now that their enemy also had that power, Asuka was very worried at what would happen in this fight.

"You think I am relaying on that demon to beat you?" asked Rei. "I figured as much that you would have one." Rei stood up straight releasing her attack stance. She then held out her right arm and a large amount of energy surged from her body. The ground shook and her clothes rustled. The air became heavy and the palm of her hand glowed. "This demon will just combat yours and keep it busy. That way I only have to fight you."

The large demon appeared behind Rei and roared. It's massive arms and legs crushed the floor underneath them. Its eyes glowed with a strong red light and focused itself on Shinigami who did not move at all.

"SO THAT'S YOUR PLAN IS IT. I GUESS I WILL HUMOR YOU."

Without moving Shinigami summoned his demon. It was equally as large as Rei's, but there was a difference. Rei's demon looked like an overgrown human. Some of the body characteristics were out of proportion , but it still resembled a human. Shinigami's demon however looked so far removed from a human that is what hard to believe that it ever was. It's arms and legs were greatly deformed and the were large spikes off of its shoulders and knees. It was thin to the point were ribs and its spin were visible and looked like it had been tortured. The glow from its eyes was also different. Rei's demon had a glow of strength and Shinigami's had a glow of sadness.

"NOW DIE."

At this command Shinigami's demon opened its mouth and let out a beam of energy like what it used to destroy the wall of Rei's village. Rei's did the same and when the too beams meet they canceled out completely with no explosion or force.

"WHAT?" asked Shinigami in disbelief.

"These demons were not made in tandem but in opposition. When the first one was made the next two were made sequentially. When mine was made it was designed to be able to stop the original. Yours must have been made to stop mine. I guess the intended to do terrible things with these demons. No matter, our demons can't destroy each other that easily."

The two demons reached over their masters and attacked each other. There hands connected and they fought each other furiously. as they struggled to over power the other Shinigami and Rei looked at each other.

"With no henchmen and no demon you will loose Shinigami." Rei said and took back her attack stance. "I will kill you."

"OH REALLY? YOU THINK I AM DEFENSELESS NOW?" Shinigami asked. He held out his right hand to the side with his palm facing back. In his hand a sword materialized. "THIS IS THE POWER THAT COMES WITH IMMORTALITY. NOW WE SETTLE THIS. ONLY ONE DEMON WHISPERER SHALL STAND BY TODAY'S END AND THE WORLD WILL FALL BEFORE ME."

"No it wont. Asuka!" Rei called.

"Yeah?"

"Stand back ok? I don't want you to get hurt."

"Right, got it." Asuka replied and ran to one side of the room. While she hated the fact that she wasn't able to help she knew that if she tried she would just get in the way. This was truly Rei's battle and Rei's alone.

With alarming speed Rei flashed toward Shinigami. Asuka, even with her new ability to use the flash, was almost unable to see it. She only caught feint images of Rei in one pot and then the next. Shinigami blocked her attack with easy and their eyes meet. His with an evil smile and hers with a glare of death. The both flashed this time and reappeared in another exchange.

Rei had struck at the side of Shinigami's neck and he blocked the strike. Rei flashed upward and landed on the underside of her demons arm looking at the ground. While staying there, upside down, she sheathed her sword and flashed back down at Shinigami. He flashed up toward her. When they meet Shinigami was swinging up and Rei had unsheathed her blade straight down at him. Shinigami' strike was over powered and he was pushed back toward the ground. Rei attacked again from the air by flipping forward and swinging her blade down at Shinigami. He blocked and landed on the floor, Rei still in the air, their words connected. There was enough force from the impact of their blades to cause a gust of wind and a strong enough impact on the ground that the floor cracked.

"YOU ARE QUITE STRONG." Shinigami said.

"Don't toy with me." Rei said still in the air.

Rei flashed from midair and behind Shinigami. She was facing the other way, crouched down, her sword across her body. She spun around with lightning speed in an attempt to hit him from behind, but Shinigami blocked the strike without turning around. Then, a large explosion occurred where Rei was standing. Asuka called out, "Rei!", in fear of what had just happened.

"YOU ARE VERY GOOD INDEED." Shinigami said again and looked off to his left.

There Rei was on the wall, her sword stuck in it, supporting herself there.

"YOU WERE ABLE TO AVOID MY DEMON AT THAT RANGE. I DIDN'T THINK THAT WAS POSSIBLE."

"You think I am as weak as that? Don't make me laugh."

Rei flashed in and stopped a few feet in front of Shinigami. Seeing this as an opportunity he swung his sword at Rei's head. Her snake demon instantly appeared to block the attack. At the same time Rei summoned her ice demon and tried to freeze Shinigami. He dodged to his right and was grabbed from behind by the dark demon from Sendai. Shinigami's eyes widened with alarm when he saw his demon holding him. Next Rei's fire demon came forth and charged at Shinigami. It collided, exploded and knocked back the dark demon, it vanished and there was a cloud of smoke where Shinigami was standing a moment before. When the smoke cleared Shinigami was standing there without a scratch on him.

"NOT BAD." he said with a smile. "IT SEEMS YOU MASTERED YOUR POWER AND GOT OVER THAT CURSE I PUT ON YOU. VERY GOOD, THIS BATTLE WILL LAST LONGER THAN FIVE MINUTES."

"Damn. How did he go through that without any damage at all?"

"OH, YOU CAN'T GUESS? MY POWER IS JUST THAT MUCH HIGHER THAN YOURS. THIS ROYAL HAORI AMPLIFIES BY BODIES RESISTANCE TO DAMAGE. YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO CUT ME AS LONG AS I WEAR THIS."

"Coward!" shouted Asuka. "You can't eat Rei without cheap tricks can you? Why don't you take that off and fight like a man?"

"WATCH YOUR TONGUE LITTLE GIRL OR I WILL KILL YOU FIRST."

"Don't threaten my friends." Rei said directly in front of Shinigami.

Rei slashed her sword with both hands down and to the right. Shinigami stepped back to avoid a majority of the damage. A cut appeared on his chest and his kimono was cut.

"Yeah got him!" Asuka cheered.

"It seems I can cut you." said Rei. "Looks like you can go down here. Good to know."

"WHAT? HOW? THERE IS NO WAY THAT WOMAN CAN OVER POWER ME LIKE THAT. NO MATTER. I'LL JUST KIL YOU BEFORE YOU CAN CUT ME AGAIN."

Shinigami attacked Rei with a single strike. She parried and countered the strike, but Shinigami side stepped it. He attacked again, this time with a large barrage of strikes. His sword swings were random and numerous. Rei matched his strikes with her own blocking each one. On the last of Shinigami's strikes Rei hit his sword hard enough to redirect it off to the side completely. With nothing to block his body Rei followed her swig with a kick to Shinigami's ribs. The kick did nothing and Shinigami punched Rei in the stomach. After coiling slightly Rei flashed behind Shinigami and thrust her sword at him. He spun around and blocked the attack.

The demons continued to fight over head without the same stand off as Shinigami and Rei. If one injured the other the damage would be equally returned. When one was cut its black blood would spill onto the ground soaking the floor. Rei and Shinigami always seemed to be far enough away from the blood that none of it splashed onto them. The demons struggled as hard as Rei and Shinigami to defeat the other. While these two battles raged Asuka could only watch from the sidelines, hoping that Rei would be victorious.

"Please Rei," she said her hands clutched in front of her chest, "please win. You have to. There's that promise you need to fulfill. And, something important you still haven't told someone."

Rei thrust her sword ant Shinigami with both hands. He blocked it and moved to swing back at Rei, but she quickly pulled the sword back and thrust again. This attack almost hit Shinigami, but at the last instant he flashed to avoid it. Appearing on Rei's left he continued his swing from before. Rei turned just slightly and caught the blade in her hand. She stopped the majority of the force but her hand was still cut open, the blood dripped onto the ground. While holding the blade she thrust her sword at Shinigami again and was able to cut him between a set of ribs. Rei released her grip on Shinigami's sword and he stepped back.

"YOU WOULD GO SO FAR AS TO TAKE DAMAGE IF IT MEANS KILLING ME? YOU ARE TRULY RUTHLESS AND INTENDED ON KILLING ME AREN'T YOU?"

"There is no other way to end this. You would not surrender or stop you plans. And even if you were willing to do that, I would not forgive myself for not ending your existence. Not after everything you have put this world through. So," Rei's glare grew stronger, the projection of death being enough to bring the strongest men to their knees, "I will stop you here."

Ignoring the pain in her hand the attacked Shinigami again. Shinigami responded by summoning a snake demon like the one Rei had, but instead of forming a wall he made the earth a spike and sent it at Rei's chest. When the spike passed through Rei the image of herself faded and she appeared above Shinigami.

"AN AFTER IMAGE?"

Rei swung down at Shinigami and he summoned a fire demon. It appeared in the path of Rei's blade and when she struck it, it exploded. The force sent Rei flying back and crash into a wall. Shinigami appeared in front of Rei and thrust his sword at her attempting to impale her on the wall. She moved in time to take only a cut on her side. As she jumped backwards she summoned her bat demon and it lashed out with its cutting wind. Shinigami's haori protected him from a majority of the damage with only a few small cuts in his other clothing.

"Damn!" Rei grunted.

Shinigami walked forward and glared at Rei. "SO THERE IS LIMIT TO WHAT YOU CAN DO. ALSO IT SEEMS LIKE YOU ARE OUT OF DEMONS. THET ME SHOW YOU WHAT A TRUE DEMON WHISPERER CAN DO."

Shinigami a large eagle-like demon above his head. The bird flew up into the air and then down quickly at Rei. As the bird drew closer it burst into flames and formed a large fireball. As it came closer Rei summed her own fire demon and sent it at the blast. When they collided the large fireball exploded. The force of the blast hit Rei and pushed her again into another wall.

"AVOIDING DAMAGE BY CAUSING THE EXPLOSION TO BE PREMATURE. NOT BAD LITTLE GIRL, BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH."

Rei stood up and was breathing heavily. The look in her eyes had not changed from the start of the battle. She took her stance holding her sword in just her left hand and readying for a thrust. After her body relaxed she flashed in at Shinigami faster than before. He was almost unable to dodge it. When Rei stopped because of Shinigami's dodge, a large gust of wind continued forward. Rei swung he blade parallel to the ground at Shinigami from her thrust and cut his chest. He jumped into the air to attack from above, but Rei quickly changed stances. She coiled down low, still holding the sword in her left hand only and jumped up into the sir with a flash. She thrust at Shinigami who was hanging in the air. He again tried to dodge, but was still cut across the shoulder. Rei flew past Shinigami and flipped over to land on the ceiling. The force from her strike again hit the ceiling. She rebounded off the ceiling and came down at Shinigami from above. Unable to move again Shinigami blocked the strike with the side of his sword. Shinigami and Rei fell to the ground with him holding Rei above his head, her arm and sword fully extended.

When the reached the ground Shinigami threw Rei to the side and charged in for his own attack. Rei blocked each one of Shinigami's powerful strikes. With each time the swords connected and the attack parried an area around them was damaged. Shinigami had enough force in his strikes to kill Rei even if he missed. If Rei did not redirect the force like she did it would have killed her. Even with these attacks being slower Rei was unable to counter. She was continually pushed back until Shinigami lessened the power on his strike and quickened the swing. Seeing the opportunity Rei again blocked the attack with her left arm, taking the deep gash. As she blocked she cut Shinigami across the stomach.

Shinigami stepped back and breathed heavily, his many wounds taking a toll on his body. The wounds Rei sustained were bleeding, but a considerable amount had stopped. Rei and Shinigami flashed at each other and appeared where the other had started. Both had swung their swords at the other. Shinigami's kimono was cut but no damage was sustained to his body. Rei, on the other had was cut across the body between the ribs and hip. Her knee buckled slightly from the pain.

"No Rei. Don't die." said Asuka from the sidelines.

Rei and Shinigami turned back at each other. Rei was starting to breath deeply though her mouth. Shinigami was also breathing heavily. Rei still had the battle ready eyes from the beginning and Shinigami still looked confident. After a few minutes of breathing Shinigami broke the silence.

"GIVE UP SHINPISHUGISHA, THERE ISN'T MUCH LEFT YOU CAN DO WITH A WOUND LIKE THAT."

"I could say the same about yours. Neither of us is giving up."

Rei laughed slightly, just enough for Shinigami to question it.

"WHAT IS IT THAT YOU FIND SO FUNNY?"

"The way you speak. You called me Shinpishugisha. You have been doing that this whole time, referring to your race like it was separate from you. Do you not consider yourself one?"

"OF COURSE NOT. SHINPISHUGISHA ARE IDIOTS THAT ABANDONED THEIR POWER. I WILL TAKE IT BACK. I AM NO LONGER A FALLEN GOD, I WILL BE GOD."

"Idiot."

Rei calmed her breathing to a normal level. She stood up straight and held her sword at her side. Her eyes changed from that of a person ready to kill, to a person without out worries or negative thoughts. Her eyes were relaxed and gentle. The same eyes she had when she beat her master Kenji and became a master of her style. Her breathing continued to soften until it was gone completely. Rei's breathing had stopped. In that instant Shinigami felt as though everything had gone silent. For a brief instant her heard nothing, no noise from the fighting demons, not his own breathing, nothing. Rei appeared to Shinigami's right, then his left, then his back and finally his front. Images of Rei appeared all around Shinigami.

"It was because of me that Takuji was finally allowed to rest. He found someone that he knew could stop you and avenge his family. I will not dishonor his passing by letting him be mistaken."

Rei extended her images three dimensionally around Shinigami until there was a dome of Rei images around him. Shinigami looked around him concerned as to what was happening.

"I remember this." said Asuka. "This is what Rei used to defeat Hachi. This is that same move. Wait, no its different. This time its calm. Last time there was anger and desire to kill. This time there's nothing. Only Rei."

"Shinigami. I'm sure you are aware of what this attack is. There is no way to block or escape it. You will fall to its power. On the off chance that you survive because of the power of your Haori, you will be killed in only a moment after."

Rei continued to move around Shinigami lost in the many images. After about a minute of this Rei and all her images disappeared. She appeared behind Shinigami and off to his right. She held her sword down at her side. Three large cuts appeared across Shinigami's body. The blood sprayed out across the flood. Then a large cut appeared across Rei's back from shoulder to hip. Her blood also sprayed across the floor.

Shinigami fell to the floor barley holding himself up with both of his hands. Rei dropped to her knees and plunged her sword into the flood to hold herself up. Rei was in shock with what had happened. She had been cut inside of that technique. She knew that was impossible, but still somehow Shinigami had done it. Very slowly she turned her head to look at Shinigami.

"YOU WANT TOO KNOW HOW I DID THAT." Shinigami said weakly, coughing every couple of words. "YOU WERE RIGHT. THERE IS NO WAY TO STOP THAT ATTACK. IT CANNOT BE BLOCKED OR DODGED, BUT IT CAN BE CUT THROUGH. I SAW IT, THE CHANGE FROM YOUR DEFENSIVE MOTION TO YOUR OFFENSIVE ONE. THERE I STRUCK, BUT MY ATTACK WAS TOO SLOW SO I ONLY HIT YOU ON YOUR WAY THROUGH, CUTTING YOUR BACK. YOU WILL DIE."

Rei was barley able to keep moving let alone talk to Shinigami. After several minutes both Rei and Shinigami had the strength to move again. Their wounds had somehow stopped a majority of the bleeding. They turned toward each other and stood up. Both could barley stand from all the injuries they sustained. They looked at each other and gripped their swords for attack. Both knew that this attack would be the last. There, in that exchange, the fate of the world would be decided. One would die and the other would live.

Above their heads Rei's demon grabbed the throat of Shinigami's and broke its neck. At the same time Shinigami's demon thrust its hand through Rei's demons chest destroying its heart. Both demons died at the same time and faded away. Rei saw this stalemate and interpreted that to mean the same for hr and Shinigami.

"That's ok." Rei thought. "I don't mind. As long as Shinigami does not win." she glanced over at Asuka. "Asuka, don't be sad for too long. I'll be counting on you to destroy the source of the mist. I know you can do it. Take care of yourself."

Rei and Shinigami flashed at each other. In this blinding instant Asuka realized what was about to happen and screamed. Rei and Shinigami were close enough to strike each other. They swung their blades knowing that they would kill there opponent. In the immeasurable moment between the time their blades would have struck each others bodies Rei noticed something and stopped. There, standing in front of her was Shinji.

"Shinji. What are you..?"

Rei stopped, noticing that Shinji had stopped Shinigami's attack. The sword had entered Shinji's left side going all the way to his spin. The large wound drained blood all over the floor. Shinji had stabbed Shinigami in the heart when he stepped in the way. Shinigami was dead. He let go of his sword and fell to the ground. His sword vanished and Shinji's bleeding increased.

"Shinji!" Rei gasped. "What are you doing? Why did you..?"

"Did you think I would let you die here?"

Shinji said and then fell backwards. Rei was just able to catch him and she held him in her arms as he continued to bleed. Asuka stood on the side speechless, almost unable to breath.

"Shinji why? Why did you jump in the way like that? Why didn't you let me go?"

"I would never let you die like that. And besides, its your job to free the world from the mist. I had to make sure that you were able to do that." Shinji said followed by a strong cough that increased his bleeding.

"Shinji. No, don't die!"

"Stop worrying about me alright. I know, there were a lot of things I could have done. I could have gotten you out of the way. I could have blocked Shinigami's attack, or I could have just killed him. This action makes no sense logically, but still somehow it does."

Rei started to cry and with each passing moment the tears became stronger and stronger.

"I just reacted and this is how I ended up. Oh well, I guess I don't mind dieing if it was to save you." Shinji said still smiling.

"You fool. How can you still smile t a time like this?"

"I guess I just don't know how to do anything else." Shinji replied weakly.

"Shinji you can't die I, I.."

"I know Rei. Me too." Shinji said lifting his hand up and touching her face. "I'm glad you finally told me. Thank you so much." Shinji's hand dropped and his eyes closed.

"Shinji? Shinji? Shinji!" Rei yelled in horror.

Never in all her life had she felt so terrible. It was as though everything she had worked for, everything she was fighting to protect had just been destroyed. Rei cried and continued to cry. Asuka slowly walked over beside her dead friend. She stayed silent knowing there would nothing she could do or say to help Rei. As Rei continued to cry, and the tears slid down her face, they began to drip off her chin and down onto Shinji's body. One such drop fell and hit Rei's necklace, the necklace of her mother and of her people. The necklace glowed a brilliant blue when the tear hit it and when the tear fell off the necklace and on to Shinji's body the light grew until it filled the entire room. After a few moments of shinning, the light disappeared. Rei felt something odd.

"Shinji?" Rei asked softly, her crying stopped.

Slowly Shinji started to move. His eyelids twitched and eventually opened. Rei let out a sigh of relief and began to cry again. Shinji reached his had up again and touched Rei's face.

"Hey." he said barley audible. "What happened? Why am I..?"

Shinji's question was stopped by Rei who had leaned over and kissed him. In his momentary shock of what she did his eyes widened slightly. He eventually closed his eyes an returned the kiss as best he could in his weakened state. Asuka stood there, still silent and smiled. When Shinji and Rei broke their kiss they looked at each other.

"Thanks for telling me again." said Shinji.

"Thanks for being around for me to tell you."

Very slowly Rei helped Shinji sit upright. She continued to hold onto him and support him. When she inspected the wound he received from Shinigami she found that it was completely gone. She also noticed that all her wounds were gone as well. They were left in utter amazement at the power that the necklace contained. To happy that he was alive and that they won, Rei stayed silent and held on to Shinji. Asuka bent down o her face was level with Shinji's.

"Good job. I'm glad your alive."

"Thanks. I guess there are some things we need to answer huh?"

"No, I fully understand. I was wondering when you two were going to say anything. As long as Rei is happy then so am I. please take care of her."

"Yeah."

After quite some time Shinji was finally able to stand with Rei's help. Rei, Asuka and Shinji stayed in the room where they fought Shinigami until Shinji had a full sense of motion back. After standing Shinji slowly was able to move with help. Eventually he gained enough muscle control to stand on his own. And, after many tries, he was able to walk. This whole process took several hours. Only after Shinji could walk did anyone question the situation.

'So that's what it's like to come back from the dead." said Shinji.

"Your taking this awful lightly. I thought even you might be affected by this." said Rei.

"I had my emotional reaction to dieing, and to coming back. What else do you want?"

"Guys there's something wrong here." said Asuka. "Nothing has happened since we killed Shinigami. Ichi has not shown up. No one has come down into this room. Nothing has happened. I thought by now, since it has been so long, that someone would have shown up. I'm worried."

"We should be fine." said Shinji. "After all we were able to beat Shinigami and he only has one henchman left. Since we beat the boss any of his underlings should be easier. We don't have to worry about a thing. All that's left is to destroy the source of the mist at out leisure."

"Shinji might have a point, but I agree Asuka, someone should have come by know. It's pretty obvious that the battle has been over. Ichi should have realized that his master died and done something."

"Ok then." said Shinji. "Lets go down and destroy the mist's source. Then we don't have to worry about anything anymore."

"Are you sure you want to go? You can only just now move on your own."

"I'm fine. In fact I think I'm getting the rest of my strength back really quickly."

"Alright." replied Rei and they all walked across the room and traveled down the stairs.

Down on the next floor there was a single piece of machinery in the center of the room. It was a large glass case like the ones with demon experiments in Oshu, only this was many times bigger. The diameter was three or four times the size of those other cases and the glass was broken. In the case was a large white crystal with mist coming off of it.

"Is that it?" asked Asuka. "Is that what the mist is coming from?"

"It sure looks that way." replied Shinji. "But what exactly is it?"

"It is the heart of the first demon." said a voice from behind the case.

"Who's there?" asked Rei defensively.

"Please do not be alarmed." said the voice. "I am only here to talk with you."

"Your one of Shinigami's henchmen aren't you?" said Asuka.

"Yes but I do not want to fight. It is such a pain after all."

The source of the voice walked around to the front of the case. It was a man who looked more human than any other of Shinigami's henchmen. He had straight white hair and perfectly white kimono and hakama. His sword was much longer than a normal one, its blade longer than Rei's entire sword. It was worn on his right hip and he had demon armor like a glove on his right hand.

"I am Ichi and this is the source of the mist. Like I said it is the heart of the first demon."

"The demons heart?" Shinji questioned.

"What does that matter?" said Asuka. "Move out of our way. We beat Shinigami and we can beat you too."

"I don't think that is so." Ichi said calmly. "Anyway would you like me to finish the story about this crystal?"

"Sure, why not." said Rei.

"Alright. The first demon was much like that sword of yours. It was the strongest ever. The initial creature made by god to walk this earth. It was created long before humans, Shinpishugisha, or the demons you are familiar with. It was not confined to a single size or shape, but could change at will. At one time it was larger than the one you summoned to fight Shinigami by many times. Others it was smaller than my hand. Eventually with the creation of humans and the descending of Shinpishugisha, the demon stayed in a more normal size to stay clear of these new life forms. When the Shinpishugisha started their research they sought out this demon to be used as the blueprint for their creations. Unfortunately some fool went and killed the demon when he found it."

"Then what? They tried to model new demons after what they thought it was or did they try and examine the body?" asked Shinji.

"Neither. When the man that killed it stood over the body a terrible poison leaked out and killed him. The corpse of both the man and the demon were brought back to this lab. When the doctors were able to see that the poison came from something inside the demon that was still there they worked to remove it. The heart was initially much smaller than this. They placed it in this large container and filled it with a synthetic solution that was similar to the demons blood. The heart absorbed the blood and grew to monstrous a size. After years of study it was found that the mist that evaporated off the heart could be used to increase a demons power. They also speculated that it was the large and concentrated dose that killed the man that slew the demon. Upon experimentation they found out that they were wrong."

"At that's when they knew what the mist would really do."

"Yes. They tested the mist on three subject at once. A demon, a human and a human that was wearing a demon. The human was unaffected, but the demon went mad and attacked him. The human that was wearing the demon lost all control over himself and was controlled by the demon. Upon seeing the horror that the mist could cause it was decided that it would never again be dealt with. That is when Shinigami appeared, and well, you know the rest."

"So if the mist could do all that why didn't they just destroy the heart?"

"They couldn't. it had its own power that could not be destroyed. Nothing they tried could damage it in the least. Only a demon whisperer could destroy it. And the one they had wanted to use it."

"What about you and the rest of Shinigami's henchmen? How are you different?"

"For most of us we were given the option. Surrender to the mist and its demons and gain power. There were probably hundreds more also given that choice that failed to control any demons. Only very strong souls could actually maintain their control and command the mist controlled demons. I was slightly different."

"Oh? And how was that?"

"Many years before the mist I was like you, a young martial artist training everyday to get stronger and better at my art. Over the years I became very powerful to the point when I was called the strongest in the world. I could do things that other humans could not, but it was still not enough. I wanted more. I knew there was more that could be achieved. Despite the fact that I had no equal I still felt like there was power down inside me that I had not tapped yet. I spent years trying to obtain it. Eventually I aged and my growth stopped. I feared that I would die without reaching my goal. Then the mist came. One day a demon came at me and when I attacked it, it spoke. It told me that it could give me what I desired and rid me of what I feared most. It could give me power and take away death. I accepted this and got his small fragment of demon armor, and with it eternal life. I never ending chance to grow stronger and improve my swordsmanship."

"So why did you join Shinigami if that was all you wanted?"

"By the time I had obtained this power the world was not covered in mist. Once when I walked outside it I felt my power fly out of me. I knew then that I only had strength inside the mist. Shinigami wanted to expand the mist all over the world. His original goal agreed with mine. Despite my agreement to work for this goal he took away my name and gave me the title Ichi. He attempted to control me and have me do his bidding, that plan quickly ended."

"What are you talking about?"

"Shinigami once tried to force me to do his work and I declined. When he raised a hand against me I easily struck him down. You see, I am stronger than Shinigami."

Rei, Asuka and Shinji could not believe what they had heard. Someone stronger than Shinigami, how could they beat someone like that? Shinji had died stopping Shinigami and Rei almost did. They thought that this had to be a lie or there was little chance for their victory.

"I only worked with Shinigami because his initial goal agreed with mine. I was not his henchmen nor his accomplice."

"So you would have let Shinigami sacrifice a million humans and demons, or several of his henchmen to become a god?"

"No, of course not. If Shinigami had tried to go though with that plan I would have killed him. The taking of that many lives would not have been tolerated. I hope that you understand that I am not evil, I am just a man that was unable to fulfill his dream in one life and gained more time to complete it. So I ask you this, please do not destroy the mist."

"What are you nuts!?" exclaimed Asuka.

"Yes that's quite the request." said Shinji.

"What makes you think we will do that?" asked Rei.

"Your sense. You know you cannot beat me if you tried so I am offering a solution that works for the both of us. I will allow you to free every tow from the mist and will personally escort you over the world to let you do that. This way, humans will live again. You have proven that it is possible to travel through the mist and live. All the world would need are trained warriors with each group of travelers and everything would be fine. I will stay out in the mist, never bothering humans. I only want to train my sword until I feel that it is as strong as possible by this plane of existence. Humans can live again and I can truly master the sword. Please."

"No!" Rei said strongly. "Will will not allow you to do that. Not only is this unfair but it is a perversion of life. Humans should not have to travel with soldiers everywhere the go and no being should live forever. If I turned around now and allowed both of those things to happen then not only would I be failing my mission, but I would be disrespecting all those who died in the mist up till now. Ichi, you may not be evil like Shinigami, but you are by no means good."

"I see. You all feel this way do you?"

"Yes." said Asuka. "Rei is right and I will follow he lead anywhere."

"It's science immortality does not exist. Everything has a limit and everything comes to and end. I can allow you to go breaking the worlds laws like that. So yeah, I feel the same."

"I see. That is too bad." Ichi drew his long sword from its sheath and held it out toward Rei and the others. "Then I will simply kill you and keep my life on this earth."

ATHORS NOTE: So how's that for a twist, Ichi being stronger than Shinigami was actually something I had planed from the start. It explains all his actions up until now. Yes I know that this was not the true final battle since they have to fight Ichi now, but I felt that spreading the ending into two chapters worked better than one really long one. The next chapter will have the final fight with Ichi and the stories ending. Next time Ichi the strongest warrior, and the sword that cut the heavens. The touching conclusion to the Legend of Evangelion.


	13. Chapter 13

Ichi stood with his long sword held straight out toward Rei and the others, the sword as long as he was tall. From the way he held it Rei and the others could tell that it had taken many lives. It was well kept, as flawless as the sword Rei held. Ichi still looked as though he was bored and did truly not want to fight. Even if that were true both parties knew that this battle could not be avoided, it would be the battle that decided the fate of the world. Despite the true meaning of this battle each person had their own reasons to win, none so noble as to save the world.

"This is almost sad Ichi." said Shinji.

"Oh? What is?"

"The fact that you are fighting for something a silly as eternal life."

"The want of a creature to maintain its existence is odd? It is hard to believe one who calls himself a scientist is saying that."

"I'm not. What I'm saying is that it's odd that a warrior such as yourself is so afraid of dieing. I thought samurai understood that they could die any day?"

"Do you believe that there is a life after this one?" Ichi asked. "I don't. despite what all the stories say, I don't believe that there is a world of gods or Buddha's that humans can enter into. Death is the end. Now why would I want my life to end before I am finished with what I must do?"

"Your just a coward." said Shinji. "So what if dieing is the end?"

"From someone like you who's so young, what do you know about dieing yourself?"

"Well I just did a little while ago. Shinigami killed me and Rei brought me back."

"I see. And, was there anything beyond this life?"

"No. Rei brought me back just before my soul faded away. I don't think that fading was bringing me to another life. Death is death. Whenever I killed something I realized that I was ending there existence. This is it."

"So you understand my feelings then? How could there be anything after death? A world of joy or one of punishment? Humans were gifted with to much knowledge and talent, too much free thought to be able to abide by the good path that others claim they must. That is why there is sorrow. Why would gods give this too us and then punish us for using it?"

"I agree, but I still think you are a coward. Dieing wasn't all that bad. Since your just dead there's nothing to feel, no pain, sorrow or regret, your just dead. To think your are that scared of dieing, yet you send so many to their grave. You are not worthy to carry a sword."

"We shall see."

"Forget this." Asuka said as she appeared behind Ichi, crouched down, here spear held out to her side. She swung her spear across at Ichi, but effortlessly he turned his sword behind him and blocked the attack.

"Your speed isn't bad, but you leave yourself too open." Ichi said and kicked back hitting Asuka in the chest.

Asuka flew back a few feet and landed on her back. She easily rebounded back onto her feet and smiled. Ichi, who looked over his shoulder slightly to kick was surprised by the smile. He turned back toward Rei and Shinji just in time to see Rei summon her final demon.

"I see, a distraction. You are quite good to work this out without speaking."

Rei sent her demon in to attack Ichi. As it charged it opened its mouth and began to ready a blast. Before it could fire Ichi lifted his sword and, with one powerful swing, cleaved the demon in half. The demon broke apart and faded away.

"You cannot defeat me." Ichi said.

Just as Ichi spoke Asuka attacked again from behind Ichi. This time she charged in with a thrust at his back. Ichi side stepped and swung his sword back at Asuka's head. Asuka's eyes widened as she was unable to dodge. Ichi swung through, but Asuka had vanished. Asuka was off to Ichi's left with Shinji standing next to her, his hand on her shoulder. Rei then attacked from above, but was blocked by Ichi.

"You three are quite good. Your skill as a team is far above what I expected. But if your spending this much time helping each other can you even hope to win?"

"Yes." said Rei. She flashed behind Ichi and swung at his back. Her sword went through him, but hit nothing. "An after image?"

"Yes." Ichi replied standing over Rei his sword pointed down. He thrust down, trying to stab Rei through the chest from behind, but a wall formed between Ichi and Rei. The wall slowed his stab enough that it did not reach Rei.

From the side Shinji appeared and swung at Ichi. Ichi pulled his sword from the wall, destroying it, and blocked Shinji's attack. Shinji attacked Ichi with very rapid strikes. He moved around Ichi attacking from multiple angles trying to find an opening. He flashed to different sides of his body throwing accurate definitive strikes.

"Too bad I'm out of needles or I'd try this trick on you." he said with a smile.

"You joke a lot for a man about to loose his life." replied Ichi.

Just then Rei and Asuka attacked from either side of Ichi. Ichi struck back at Shinji knocking him back enough so a counted would be delayed. He then moved his sword and blocked the attack from Rei on his left and grabbed the blade of Asuka's spear on his right. Taking a step he spun around forcing Rei's sword back and sending Asuka around into Rei. They flew back but were able to gain control of themselves and land without great harm. Rei, Asuka and Shinji stood defensively after that exchange.

"You are making me quite happy." said Ichi. "So far I have thwarted your every attempt to injure me regardless of what you do. I also beat your demon, the same demon Shinigami claimed as his greatest power and used as the one possibility to his superiority over me. You say my immortality is cowardice, but it has made me more powerful that anyone who has ever walked the earth. Some fools would probably compare me to a god."

"You don't think you're a god?" asked Shinji.

"If I reject the idea of gods and their realm then I also reject the notion that I can be one. If I was a god it would mean that they exist."

"And that you were wrong." interrupted Rei.

"You still speak with such confidence even after what you have seen? You are wither a fool or are hiding something." Ichi paused for a moment. "No your not hiding anything. A warrior such as yourself would not hold back like that, you are too driven by your cause to hold on to such pride. You are just a foolish human who think she can win no matter what odds are against her."

"You talk like you aren't human." said Asuka. "You are just a coward. It's not just that your are that afraid of dieing, you also are afraid of being human."

"Humans are weak. They let their decisions get clouded by their emotions. Most humans spend their short lives dealing with things of no use. They spend all their time on survival and worry about their offspring so they do not die out. The only difference between a human and an animal is you can speak."

"And your prolonged life makes you any different?" replied Rei. "Your just one step off. You worry entirely about your own survival and no one else's. It is because of people like you that humans live how they do. If the world were free of this mist than survival would not dominate our minds. We could be like the people of Oshu who spent the last hundred years doing research. The world could prosper if surviving was not the only thing necessary."

"Are you trying to say that humans live for others over themselves? You are wrong. If that were the case the Shinpishugisha would not have been almost completely wiped out, you would not have been banished from your village out of fear, and Shinigami would not have acquired his numbers to work for him."

"Yes humans are guided by fear, but they do care for others a great deal. That is how towns and villages form. People come together and work with one another for prosperity. One such as you could never understand how people think."

"You think the birth of a town is for prosperity and to help another human? No, it is still out of fear and self protection. A predator will not attack a group because it will have to work harder for its meal. Humans banded together in towns to escape that fear. It is for safety in numbers sake only."

"As interesting as this is," Shinji said flashing in at Ichi, "I really don't care why people act how they do." Shinji's blade was stopped by Ichi. He retracted and thrust again at Ichi. Ichi flashed behind him with incredible speed at thrust at Shinji from behind. In an instant unseen be all Shinji was behind Ichi and a wound appeared on Ichi's side.

"Shinji." Rei said shocked at the attack. Asuka was left speechless.

"Now that was a good strike." said Ichi. "Nearly perfect in its execution. Tell me, why was it off slightly?"

"I had the slightest desire not to use this move. I never wanted Rei or Asuka to see it."

Rei was in shock, Shinji had a technique that he did not show to them? Why would he hide a skill he held? They had been in battle together many times and each had done terrible things. Killing was not something that bothered any of them, but still Shinji hid. Something about the technique must have bothered Shinji. What could it have been.

"You hide an ability like the Shukuchi, one that you think you could beat me with, why?"

"The skill with a blade is made for no other purpose than to kill. Anyone who wishes to hold a sword must know this. The Shukuchi however is made to kill legions at a time. It is the technique that maintains the superiority of the shadow warriors." Shinji paused for a moment. "I once saw my master kill thirty-one demons in a single instant with this technique. When mastery of this style was passed on to me my master gave me one final test. I was to fight him and win. The difference between this and any other training match I had with him was what he said prior to the fight. I intend to kill you. Those were his words. The only way I was going to master the way of the shadows was to fight the man who taught me and obtain a power beyond his. This is how our strength is kept. A master may train many but only one master exists at a time. The Shukuchi, is a technique of a demon. The Shukuchi makes me nothing but a demon in human form."

"You think killing your master with this technique made you stronger than him? He must have let you win when he noticed that you obtained the Shukuchi."

"If that is what you want to believe, than by all means underestimate me."

"You don't get it do you boy?" Ichi said and then was in front of Shinji, their swords together. "I too know the Shukuchi."

"Now this is unexpected."

"Do you think someone that has lived as long as I would not master speed to its highest?"

"Well that does make sense. But now I must kill you too keep our move out of anyone else's hands. Your haven't aught this to anyone have you? I'd hate to have to kill him as well."

"Hmm." Ichi chuckled.

Ichi and Shinji vanished. Rei and Asuka stood motionless. The air was still and silent. There were no clash of blades, no bursts of force, no indication that Shinji and Ichi were fighting. No trace of their existence.

When Shinji and Ichi appeared a few moments later they were several feet apart. Neither were injured. A moment after they stopped a huge just of wind came from nowhere and blew around the room. Asuka and Rei had to put up their hands to block the wind from their faces. The wind ended and Shinji and Ichi were still standing as before.

"Impressive." said Ichi. "It seems you are my equal in speed, and the Shinpishugisha is my equal in power. This will be a challenge for us all, but since you cannot fight as one person I have the advantage."

Asuka attacked Ichi this time. As Ichi turned to kill Asuka before he strike was finished Rei flashed in, her sword in her sheath. Evaluating the risk Ichi changed to block Rei's attack. The force in which Rei drew her sword met with the force of Ichi's blade forced a large shockwave pushing back all the air surrounding them. Asuka was pushed back and Shinji flashed out of harms way. Ichi was not prepared for this attack and was also pushed back by the force. Rei flashed away as the air came back to its original location.

"What the hell was that?" gasped Ichi. He landed on the ground and noticed Rei. She had re-sheathed her sword and charged back in for a second attack. Ichi countered with one of equal force.

Again the force of their attacks pushed back the air forming a vacuum. The force in which the air escaped caused damage to the surrounding room much like Shi's Izuna. Rei and Ichi continued to try and push through the others strike. As they held the air came back in as before and Rei flashed away at the last second. Ichi also tried to move but was a instant behind due to the shift in balance caused by Rei leaving. The air collapsing in caused some crushing damage to Ichi's body. When he reappeared his right arm was bleeding.

"No that is impressive." Ichi said again. "I never thought you had that much strength. What is more surprising is that you were able to do one right after the other."

Rei stood, breathing heavily, her strength drained from those two attacks.

"I see, you can barley stand now. You were thinking that one of those two strikes would have killed me either by contact or by the subsequent vacuum pressure. It seems you were wrong and no are out of options."

"Rei!" Asuka yelled in concern.

"Don't worry about me. I can still fight. As long as we win nothing else matters."

"Is that what you think? You are indeed a fool." said Ichi and flashed in toward Rei. He used the Shukuchi, a speed Rei could not get away from.

Rei suddenly realized that she was standing next to Asuka and Shinji was holding onto her. Shinji had used the Shukuchi to move Rei from the attack just in time.

"We aren't doing so hot guys." said Shinji still holding his smile. "We have to do something."

"Like what!?" exclaimed Asuka. "You guys are way out of my league, I know that, but even you two cant seem to do enough."

"Well so far we cut his torso and damaged his right arm." said Rei. "It makes sense that we can continue causing damage until he dies."

"Except for the fact that be blocked two of your attacks and is not breathing any differently than normal. He also has my Shukuchi so making direct contact will be difficult."

"What are you suggesting Shinji?"

Shinji stayed silent for a moment. "Rei, how long do you need to get your strength back?"

"Just a couple of minutes."

"Ok, Asuka we have to hold Ichi off until Rei can fight again."

"Right."

"Rei, we will hold him back for about five minutes but after that we need you. Watch him closely, there will be a small instant where he is off guard. Hit him then. If this doesn't work I think were done for."

"How are you going to get an opening, I have yet to see a real one?"

"Don't worry about that, it will be there."

"Are you done planning?" Ichi called from across the room. "As soon as your ready I'll get back to fighting you. I hate killing people when they aren't fighting. That's more a tactic for a shadow like you boy."

"Your right it is." replied Shinji.

Shinji and Asuka flashed in at Ichi. Shinji reached him first so he began the attack. After a few strikes he stepped back slightly and Asuka began to attack. Shinji and Asuka continued this, each come in from a different angle as the other was attacking and then moved to a different location. There hope was to confuse Ichi and make more of an opening and cause more damage to him. After several exchanges Ichi swung with such force that Shinji and Asuka were pushed back.

"Damn it didn't work." said Asuka.

"You thought it would?"

"No but I was hoping."

"Rei still needs more time lets go again."

Their attack was less successful the second time. Asuka attacked first and Shinji followed. On Asuka's second attacked Ichi countered the blow and cut Asuka's shoulder. With the mobility in her arm lessened she was unable to fight as well. Shinji fought Ichi solo for a moment. He was in no way thinking that Asuka would continue, not out of weakness on Asuka's part, but because it was not necessary. They were not going to win, not without Rei. Suddenly Shinji moved and Asuka's spear came straight in at Ichi's face. The thrust had limited power as Asuka was holding onto her wound as she attacked. Ichi avoided the attack and Asuka's shoulder caused her great pain. Shinji attacked Ichi one more time as he dodged.

"We wont let up."

"You are very persistent." Ichi said knocking Shinji back. "It matters not how much time you give her to recover. She will not be able to defeat me. All you can do is prolong your lives a short while."

"And that's all we need to do." said Asuka panting on the ground. "Rei will win, the mist will be destroyed and you will die. If we die in the process so be it." Asuka was in full confidence. This statement was not a lie to bolster her fighting, she truly meant what she said. She cared not of her own life, only about the sake of the world.

"You are all fools, fighting for something such as freedom from the mist. There will still be evil and suffering without it. It will only be in a different form."

"We know." said Rei recovered. "We don't care about that. We just want people to live openly in the world that they have been given."

Shinji attacked Ichi one more time. Ichi grabbed the blade and threw Shinji back. As he was about to strike his eyes widened slightly. Rei flashed in to attack.

Ichi threw Shinji back and moved to strike. When he did the room went black. From the direction he threw Shinji a figure appeared from the darkness. The figure was cloaked in black, its face hidden. In its left hand there was a lantern, a hand of bone holding it up. Its right held a scythe. It motioned slowly at Ichi. Ichi's eyes widened, his greatest fear stood before him. Death, a true Shinigami, had come to claim him. Then through the darkness tore another figure, one that Ichi could stop.

Rei swung down at Ichi from above and Ichi regained his composure in time to stop it. Lifting his sword with his left hand and reinforcing it with his right he blocked Rei's strike. The force of the strike caused the ground around Ichi to crumble and break forming a large depression. Rei pushed with all her might to break through Ichi's defense. After a moment of fighting Rei saw a small flash in the crystal armor on Ichi's right hand.

"BREAK!" Rei yelled.

The crystal on Ichi's hand cracked apart and off his hand. Rei's sword went through Ichi's and cut from the base of the neck on his right side down his entire body, almost cutting him in half. Ichi fell back on the ground his body in a pool of blood.

"Why, why did you abandon me?" Ichi gasped. "Or rather, how did you break from my control? That Death, was it false or foresight? To think that with this power, and all my years I was still not the strongest, and Death still came for me." Ichi lay silent, the last bit of life drained from his body.

"Ok, what they hell happened?" Asuka said staggering over to where Rei was.

"Asuka are you alright? Don't move we'll get you fixed up."

"I'll be fine, just tell me what happened."

"Don't be dumb." said Shinji. "Let us at least bandage up that wound."

"Fine. But turn away I don't want you looking at me while Rei patches me up."

"Ok."

Asuka slipped her kimono down past her shoulders and Rei began to bandage the cut. "So how come I'm the only one with an injury?"

"Your not Asuka." said Rei. "Yes you're the only one with a large wound, but I'm having trouble standing. I used all the strength I had in those last few attacks. I'm surprised I haven't collapsed from exhaustion."

"That small rest we gave you must have really helped." said Shinji.

"Well then please explain how exactly we just won because I have no idea what happened."

"Yeah Shinji, how do you make an opening? What did you do to him that made him loose focus?"

"It is another technique that I never wanted you two to see. Full sensory manipulation. I can cast an illusion so strong on a person that every part of their brain thinks something is happening when its not. In this case I cast Ichi's worst fear on him. I think he saw Death."

"So in that instant he was distracted by that fear Rei attacked. Ok that makes sense, but what did Rei do, OW!" Asuka exclaimed.

"Sorry. Your wounds all patched up. As soon as we get out of here we'll take actual care of it."

"That's fine, just what did you do."

"Nothing. It was his demons."

"His demons?"

"The demons in the armor of his right hand. The spoke to me, like when I take control of one or they purify the mist. They spoke and all asked to be released. I set them free which destroyed the power Ichi had. If it weren't for that we would have lost."

"Good thing you're a demon whisperer."

"Yeah."

"So now we have to destroy the source of the mist right? Lets get to it. That damn thing has been an eye sore since we got down here."

"Yeah. I wonder how to do it." Rei said.

"Well I think you should deal with it like any other Shinpishugisha thing and do what ever comes to you." said Shinji.

Rei nodded and stood up. She walked over to the crystal and placed her hand on it. It had a cold and distant feeling like something inside it was retreating from the touch. Rei tried to understand the energy coming from the crystal. After a moment she closed her eyes.

"Please." she said quietly.

From Rei's body spirits of all her demons formed and moved into the crystal. Once her last demon had entered the crystal glowed blue. A large crack formed down the crystal and the color faded. Mist stopped flowing and the crystal cracked again. The mist in the castle vanished and the crystal cracked a final time. When Rei opened her eyes the crystal broke apart and faded into dust.

"Wow, that was amazing." said Shinji.

"I'm not even going to ask what happened this time." said Asuka. "I'm sure it will be too confusing."

"Yeah, I'm not sure if I could explain it anyway. Come on, lets get out of here."

Rei, Shinji and Asuka walked the steppes of the underground castle back up to the surface. All remnants of demons and mist had been cleared. When they reached the room that Shinji fought Shi in Rei was shocked by the amount of damage. She looked at Shinji and he answered before she spoke.

"I'll explain later, it's kind of a long story."

Eventually Rei, Shinji and Asuka reached the surface. It was dark but clear. The once, mist dense island was void of anything. It was mostly open field. They walked through the night back toward their boat. Slowly but surely they traveled, none with the strength to move fast. It was almost morning when the reached the beach. The ship had come closer to shore when they noticed the mist vanish. They signaled the crew and they sent out a boat. The crew member in the boat greeted them.

"You guy's did it!" he exclaimed. "As soon as we saw the mist clearing we started to cheer. I'm so glad that all of you are alive and well."

"Thank you very much." said Rei. "Now I don't mean to seem rude but can you take us back as soon as possible?"

"Of course they were prepping the ship for departure as I set out to get you. If I may ask, why did you not simple use magic like last time?"

"If I use anymore energy now I don't think I'd be able to walk."

"I understand. Come on then, get in and enjoy the ride back."

Once Rei, Shinji and Asuka were back on the ship they were greeted by a joyous crew who all cheered at their accomplishment. Without being rude the slipped down below deck into their room and all fell asleep the instant they sat down. When they finally awoke the were back at the dock. It was about midday. Exactly which midday was unknown, but they did not care if they slept only a few hours or a whole week, their fight was over, they could relax.

Back at Kenji's temple a feast was held in their honor. After a night of congratulations and praise Rei, Shinji and Asuka retired again for even more sleep. The next morning they were given supplies for their travels and left the temple.

"So, where do we want to go now?" asked Asuka. "We really don't have a place we need to go do we?"

"Did you want to go back to Oshu Shinji and see everyone?"

"No more than you do. I'm sure you want to see Hikari again, but I have no desire to go back there. That town in boring, I would rather see other places."

"I have a request." said Rei. "I'd like to visit my home village. While I am not allowed to live there I wish to go back and see my father and sister. If you two wouldn't mind I'd like to see them first."

"That sounds great." said Asuka. "I'd love to meet your sister."

"And we probably should talk to your father huh Rei?"

"Yeah. Alright then, time to go see my family."

The trip back to Rei's village was a slow one. Without the worry of attack or demons, which there still were but far fewer, they could relax a bit more than before. Rei did not need to rush back, while she missed her family that place was no longer her home so she was not returning there. A slightly sad though but one Rei could deal with having her friends with her.

On the trip back Rei and Shinji thought about how her father and sister would react to their request. Rei and Asuka thought about where they might live and looked at Kenji's map constantly. Shinji barley had input on that matter saying he didn't really care about where he lived. Rei wondered if the village would even let her stay there for the short time she needed, if they would let her in. She also wondered what it looked like now and if they had torn down the destroyed wall or rebuilt it. So many thing ran thought everyone's head, now that they had time to think about something other than their quest.

After the trip was complete, which took a few months, Rei, Shinji and Asuka arrived at the village. The wall around the village had been taken down, but not entirely. The wall was much smaller that before, only about the height of an average person and was decorated. The gate had been replaced with one that was less foreboding and everything seemed to be going well. As they walked closer to the gate Rei wondered more and more if they wet her in.

"Come on Rei what's wrong?" asked Asuka. "This is your village right? Shouldn't you be happy to be home?"

"They banished me remember. This is not my home anymore. But my family is still her so yeah I'm happy."

"So how long do you need to stay?" asked Shinji. "I don't ask because I want to leave I ask because I'm curious."

"Not long we can probably leave tomorrow, if they let us stay that long."

Rei walked to the town gate and pulled it open. As she suspected it was not locked, since there was no danger her town would be as open as possible. She entered the town, Shinji and Asuka followed close behind. They walked in and a few of the towns people looked up from what they were doing and noticed them. Whispers began to spread about the town. After a few minutes Rei and the others had almost made there way to her old house when a voice came over everyone else's.

"So you finally came back did you?"

"Master Kenji!" Rei replied. "How have you been master? It has been so very long since we.."

Kenji swung at Rei's face and Rei grabbed it.

"I'm sure I've told you to stop referring to me so formally. You shouldn't call me master, we are equals now. We have been for a long time. Talk to me as an equal."

"Alright Kenji. By they way these are my friends Shinji and Asuka."

"Your friends huh? These people helped you stop the mist?"

"Yes they did. I couldn't have done it without them."

"So this guy is the one you love is he? And she is your friend, you consider her a part of our family?"

"I never could hide anything from you. Yes your right on both accounts."

"This master of yours is so interesting." said Shinji. He is quite skilled at deduction and he looks much younger than her really is. The instant you saw Asuka and I you measured up what our approximate skill was didn't you? Out of sheer reflex?"

"You are also quite skilled Shinji. Though you are a hard man to judge. You can hide your skill quite well."

"I am a warrior of the shadows, hiding everything about ourselves is one skill we must learn at an early stage of or training."

"Shadows huh? Then your skills are very much like mine and Rei's."

"On a few things I am superior to Rei, but I do believe she could beat me in battle."

"Really Shinji I think you would win after I saw those last two technique's of yours."

"Now you have me interested." said Kenji.

"Techniques only taught to shadow masters, full sensory manipulation and Shukuchi."

"You know the Shukuchi? That means your master was…"

"So you are aware of him are you? I'm surprised, I didn't think people outside of the shadows knew about him."

"I know many things I shouldn't. Either way I don't want to keep you from seeing you family so go."

"Alright I'll see you late Kenji."

Rei, Shinji and Asuka turned and continued to walk to Rei's old house. When they reached the door Rei knocked and opened the door. As soon as the door opened Rei saw her sister. When Saori realized that it was Rei at the door she burst into tears.

"Onee-chan your home!" she cried in joy as she ran over and hugged her sister. "I missed you so much." She said crying into Rei's chest.

"I missed you too." Rei looked up and saw her father sitting at his table looking over at the happy reunion. "Hello father. I've done what I needed to. The mist is gone. The world is free."

"Very good. I am so glad to learn that you are safe." he said with a straight face. Rei's father was never one to make large displays of emotion.

"So Onee-chan I want to year about your travels. What is the world like? Did you see anyone interesting? What's out there beyond the village?"

"On that note I have some people I want you to meet. Saori these are my friends, Shinji and Asuka."

Saori looked up at Asuka and smiled. "Hello, I'm Saori." she said with a smile. "You're my new sister are you? I think I'll like having another Onee-chan."

"You like me already and you make me your sister? I'm so glad you like me. I guess you're a good person." Asuka walked over to Saori and Rei and hugger them. "Thank you so much. I've never had a family."

"That's awful." said Saori. "Why don't you have a family?"

"We'll tell you later." said Rei. "Saori this is Shinji at least say hi to him."

"Hi." said Saori.

"Hello there." Shinji said with his usual smile.

Saori looked at Shinji for a while and Shinji looked back. Eventually Saori scrunched her face and looked harder at him. Shinji kept his trademark smile. Saori continued to stare at Shinji for several more minutes before she finally gave up and spoke.

"Why does Oniichan never stop smiling?"

"Another long story." replied Rei.

"Does my smiling bother you Saori?" asked Shinji.

"No its just weird. I've never seen someone that does nothing but smile."

"Wow it's like talking to Asuka, but several years younger."

"Hey!" replied Asuka.

"Relax you two. Father," Rei said turning her attention toward him, "I have a question for you. May we speak?"

"Of course." he replied and stood up. He walked toward the door and just before he left he turned back to Saori. "Saori stay here for a while and get to know your new family members. We'll be back shortly and then Rei can tell us all about her travels."

"Ok." she replied happily.

Rei and her father walked outside and sat down on a small bench. Her father looked up at the bright blue sky and tapped his cane on the ground. "I have missed you greatly." he said. "We both have. For a while Saori could not keep herself from crying if your name was mentioned. We worried about you daily."

"I'm sorry that I made you worry so much. At least now you know that I am safe."

"Will you be staying here now?"

"I don't think the elder would allow it and even if I did I don't think we should. Shinji, Asuka and I want to go back out into the world a little, be somewhere none of us have and enjoy the new world."

"I understand. You might have trouble explaining that to your sister though."

"Yeah." Rei and her father were silent for a moment. "I remember the day before the mist came and Kenji made me a master, the youngest and first female ever of this system. I felt so proud of myself and so strong. Then out in the world I learned that in many cases I was, and I also learned how weak I was. So much happened since I left. I think that now, if I fought with Kenji, I would outmatch him much faster."

"Things are always different outside. You never know what you really are until you experience other things."

"Yeah." Rei grabbed her sword and held it in her lap. "This sword is an artifact of the Shinpishugisha. An item given to the strongest of the first branch clan of the royal family. It signifies the leader of the royal guards. This necklace from mother is given either to the eldest female of the royal family or to the married queen, it signifies their power. The was a kimono of the kings but it was destroyed." Rei paused for a moment. "Father, did you know that mother was a Shinpishugisha?"

"Not when I met her, but she eventually told me. She was very nervous when she did. She let her spell down and showed me what she really looked like. It changed nothing of course, I still loved her and do to this day."

"This necklace belonged to her, was she royalty in some way or did she just acquire the necklace the way your acquired the sword?"

"She never said anything about that, but from your story it is possible that she was a descendant of royalty. She said that the necklace also belonged to her mother."

"So many things I didn't know. So many things that I didn't even know were out there for me to know. I am so glad that the world is free. Now we can learn more things about everything, Shinji will enjoy that."

"About that boy. Saori called him Oniichan, what inflection should I take from that?"

"Actually I also would like Shinji out her for this part."

"I'll talk with him later before I make my decision, but I don't feel that I have that much control over you anymore. You traveled the world, seen more than most people, saved the world. What kind of father would I be to deny you happiness?"

"I would still like your blessing father. At least speak with Shinji later and see if you like him."

"Of course. Now, how about we make some dinner and you can talk about your travels."

"That sounds great."

Rei and her father walked back into the houses and saw Asuka and Saori playing. Shinji was sitting down at the table with a cup of tea.

"Oh your back." said Shinji. "You have really good tea here by the way."

Rei's father looked at Shinji oddly. "You seem at home awfully quick."

"Oh Saori said I could have some. I am so glad for that too, like I said it is really good. The tea from Oshu is not nearly as good as from this area. I want to try mountain grown tea now that I can. Some that is grown in misty mountains, in half shade."

"You seem very focused on tea." replied Rei's father.

"Shinji gets like that." replied Asuka. "He's so easy going that he will just focus on something irrelevant like that when he can."

"How is tea irrelevant? Something so delicious cannot be irrelevant."

"Saori would you please prepare us some dinner?"

"Of course father."

"Here I'll help." said Rei.

When dinner was prepared they all sat down and ate together. Rei began to tell about their travels with help from Asuka and Shinji. After several hours Saori became very tired and went off to sleep. Everyone decided that was a good idea as it had grown quite late. Beds were laid out for everyone and they all went to sleep.

Later that night Rei's father went out side and took a small walk around town. Eventually he stood next to a large tree that was just above the beach. He looked out at the ocean with a quiet and serious face.

"What brings you out here so late father?" Shinji said from up in the tree. He was on a branch sleeping against the trunk. "I thought everyone else was sleeping inside."

"How did you get outside without making any noise? I'm not as good as I used to be, but I did not notice a thing."

"I'm very laid back but I am still a master shadow warrior remember. So I'm out here because it is a nice night and it would be a shame to spend it inside, you?"

"I was thinking about Rei's request."

"The one I have yet to actually express to you?"

"Yes."

"And, do you have an opinion?"

"Before I answer tell me one thing. You are very calm and controlled. From the stories Rei told you stay this way during most if not all situations and keep positive. What I want to know is, what is it that you fear? What breaks that composure of yours? You are still human so you must fear."

"I fear plenty." replied Shinji. "The last few battles e were in I was afraid I would loose and fail everyone. That the world would fall into worse darkness. That I would die before Rei told me how she felt about me. As for what breaks my composure, nothing does. This face of mine, how I carry myself will not go away ever. If you give your blessing for me and your daughter, she is doomed to everyday see a smile and listen to a very honest person."

"I understand. I give my full blessing to you and Rei. Goodnight, I'm going back to sleep."

"Good night."

The next day Rei, Shinji and Asuka set off to leave town. As the packed their things Saori tugged on Rei's sleeve.

"Do you have to go? Why can't you stay here?"

"Because I don't live here anymore Saori remember? We are going to find a new place to live. Don't worry I'll be back to visit every now and again."

"You promise?"

"Yes I promise. Would I deprive you of seeing your family forever?"

"No. I'll miss you Onee-chan."

"I'll miss you too, but at least this time you don't have to worry about me getting hurt."

"Come on Rei lets get going. We don't even know where we want to live yet."

"Yeah. Goodbye father. I thank you so much for giving us your blessing."

"As long as it makes you happy. When I have a grand kid bring it back here for us to see. It would mean a lot to me, and your mother too."

"Yes father."

Rei, Shinji and Asuka walked out of town out toward an unknown destination.

Two years past Since the ending of the mist and the world was getting back on track. Rei, Shinji and Asuka decide to move to the village Asuka's people used to live in. They were the first inhabitants of that town and they did a decent job fixing it up. Everyone lived happily and propitiously. One day Rei decided to walk outside and simply walk around town. When he left she was wearing a nice kimono with a beautiful flower pattern. It was like she always dreamed, one of those kimono's from the stories. As she walked around town she carried her child in her arms. A small, sleeping, six month old boy. Rei walked into the town square and saw Asuka buying groceries.

"Hello Asuka." she said.

"Hi Rei how are you today?"

"I'm good thanks. I got bored of being inside to I decided to take a walk."

"I see and how is your son doing today?"

"Saito is doing just fine. He spends a lot of time sleeping, he seems about as relaxed as his father."

"Oh god do we really need two of them? Where is Shinji by the way?"

"I think he training people right about now. I was thinking about going to see how it was going, maybe offer my input on the students."

"We should go see him."

"Alright lets go."

Rei and Asuka walked across town and saw Shinji with several students training outside. There were several groups of students fighting and many others solo training. Shinji walked back and forth commenting on different things for each people.

"Hey Shinji!" Asuka called.

Shinji looked up at Asuka, Rei and his son. "Everyone stop!" he called out to his students. "We have guests today. Two other very strong martial artists. Master Rei would you like to observe or teach these students anything?"

"That depends, what have they been practicing?"

"How about a demonstration?" Shinji signaled to his students to begin training.

Two students stood up and began a raining match. One student was very skilled and easily defeated his opponent. This repeated several time and Rei saw the look in that students eyes. She did not like it.

"Asuka could hold Saito for a moment?"

"Sure."

Rei walked down to the area that the training matches were going on ad stood next to Shinji. "Why have you not dealt with this sooner?"

"Well so know you are much better at teaching that aspect of martial arts. Mine is only for killing so the actual combat is what I teach."

"You don't believe that. You just wanted me do it because you think I will enjoy it."

"Yeah."

Rei signaled to stop the match and she stepped in the ring. The pompous boy was about fifteen years old and slightly taller than Rei. "You have too much of an ego." said Rei. "Your skill has gone to your head."

"I am very good. No one here can beat me. I am the best here."

"You may be the best in this circle, but not the best here. I will show you that fact. Today's lesson, there is always someone better."

"You don't really think that a woman can…"

Rei was then behind the boy with her hand on his shoulder. Without even striking the boy fell to his knees in fear. The small projection of intent and her speed had scared the boy immensely.

"Wow Shinji you really aren't teaching them your art are you?"

"The ability to fight and kill at our level is not a skill that is needed by the masses. I am only teaching how to fight, not training another master of murder."

"Good. Maybe everything will be better that way." said Rei.

"Hey Rei Saito woke up."

Rei walked over to Asuka and her child and looked at his smiling face. He was such a beautiful baby with his crimson eyes and blue hair.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There it is finally done. Wow, I never in all my dreams thought that I would finish while I was at school. Well I could write all day about this as it is the first fanfic that I have actually finished =), but overall I'm happy with it. I know some might think that I went a little long with the end, after story stuff but there was a lot to wrap up at the end and quite a few characters I wanted to bring back into the story. So to cut my rambling short I'll leave it as, if there are questions to what happened where or about my thought process, ask.


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